Which stock exchange suffered the first major collapse in the global Black Monday sequence of 1987?

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange suffered the first major collapse in the global Black Monday sequence of 1987.

The Hong Kong market fell sharply on October 19, 1987, before the crisis reached Europe and the United States. Its decline helped transmit fear through international markets operating across different time zones. When U.S. trading began later that day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its historic 22.6% percentage loss.

The global episode was not caused by one isolated exchange. Investors worried about overvalued shares, rising interest rates, currency issues, international trade tensions, and the ability of computerized trading systems to handle rapid selling. Market declines moved westward as each major financial center opened.

A common mistake is naming New York because the Dow’s fall made Black Monday famous in the United States. New York experienced the most widely remembered U.S. plunge, but Hong Kong’s exchange was the first major market to collapse in that sequence. London and Tokyo also suffered severe declines during the episode.