However, the atmosphere of terror did not appear in the Wall Street stock market. On the contrary, the Dow Jones index rebounded by 74 points after falling by 2 10 points in a week.
While investment analysts are celebrating, there is already a crisis and an undercurrent on the other side of the globe. 10 years later, another "Black Monday" began to come, but this time it enveloped Hong Kong, which is known as a shopping paradise. ?
1October 20th, 10, the Hong Kong stock market began to fall. 101October 2 1 day, Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 765. 33: 00, and this trend continued on the 22nd, falling by 1200. On 23rd, worries about the prospect of the Hong Kong dollar led to an increase in the Interbank Offered Rate in Hong Kong, and overnight rate, which was only about 7% on 2 1 day, soared 300 times.
In this market atmosphere, Hong Kong stocks suffered a heavy fall for the fourth time in a row, falling by 10.4438+0%. Donald Tsang, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said on the same day that Hong Kong's basic economic factors were good, and the stock market decline was mainly affected by temporary speculation by external factors, so investors need not panic.
He said: "I don't think this is a stock market crash." He believes that in any case, the SAR Government should first defend the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar. Although there was speculation on the Hong Kong dollar the night before, this speculation has stopped. At the same time, Joseph Yam, president of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, also made a speech, claiming that HKMA had repelled speculators the night before. ?
Perhaps because of the strong intervention of the SAR government, or because the confidence of the SAR government and financial managers infected investors, the Hong Kong stock market rebounded strongly on the 24th after four consecutive trading days. Mr Tsang reiterated that the current linked exchange rate system in Hong Kong would not change, and only speculators would suffer. ?
At this time, the global stock market fell into a vicious circle. On the 27th, the Dow Jones index in new york plunged nearly 554.26 points, the worst day ever, which led to an automatic stop for one hour.
The Tokyo stock market plunged more than 800 points after the opening. On the 28th, the Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong plunged by over 1400 points, with a drop of 13.7%, reaching a full-day low of 8,775.88 points and closing at 9,059.89 points, the highest drop in history. In this case, the volatility of the Hong Kong stock market is not limited to its own factors.
The "invisible war" triggered by Soros shocked the world like a volcanic eruption, and Thailand and Malaysia, which were at the epicenter of the earthquake, were naturally miserable. On the other hand, Hong Kong across the sea is more nervous than ever.
People all realize that it is only a matter of time before this "dark financial tide" reaches Hong Kong Island. Faced with the aggressive arrogance of international financial speculators, Tung Chee-hwa, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, thought?
He cautiously stated that the Hong Kong SAR is rich in foreign exchange reserves and its economy is growing steadily. More importantly, the Hong Kong SAR is backed by a strong motherland. Therefore, this storm will not have a particularly serious impact on Hong Kong. In fact, as early as August 1997, speculators made several tentative attacks on the Hong Kong dollar.
On August 14 and 15, some powerful investment funds entered the foreign exchange market in Hong Kong. They use financial futures to buy Hong Kong dollars with three-month or six-month Hong Kong dollar futures contracts, and then sell them short quickly. As a result, the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar once fell to 7.75/ 1. 7.75 is known as an important psychological key point of the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate.
Hong Kong's monetary authorities quickly fought back. Crack down on speculators by tightening monetary policy and raising inter-bank interest rates. HKMA raised the interest rate on loans to banks, forcing banks to return excess positions, which made speculators who borrowed money to sell Hong Kong dollars to buy dollars flinch in the face of high speculation costs.
Therefore, in a very short period of time, that is, on August 20th, the Hong Kong market returned to calm, and speculators returned in vain. However, it is clear that these speculators will not stop there, and a bloody battle between the two sides is inevitable. The Hong Kong authorities have taken precautions and adopted a two-pronged policy and public opinion offensive to remind these "hot money predators" not to act rashly.
The attitude of Hong Kong monetary authorities is extremely clear: resolutely safeguard the stability of the linked exchange rate system. Before leaving London, Tung Chee-hwa, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), who is visiting Britain, stressed that the SAR Government is determined to maintain the linked exchange rate.
The Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, and the Secretary for Financial Services, Mr Rafael Hui, met with the press and reiterated that maintaining the linked exchange rate is the government's top priority. For this goal, it is inevitable that interest will soar. I hope Hong Kong people will calm down. The Chief Secretary for Administration, Anson Chan, appealed to everyone to remain calm. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce issued a statement in support of the linked exchange rate system.
He also called on financial market participants to think calmly and re-examine Hong Kong's economic foundation in order to stabilize the market. Donald Tsang said at an investment conference: "I want to reiterate that we will not change our monetary system or our relationship with the US dollar. Only speculators died of speculation on the Hong Kong dollar. " ?
International speculators have repeatedly attacked the Hong Kong dollar, not only to profit from the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar, but to adopt a comprehensive strategy to profit from the stock market and futures market. Their approach is to accumulate a large number of short positions in the futures market first, and then buy forward dollars and sell forward Hong Kong dollars, making a big profit.
When the Hong Kong government took measures to raise interest rates sharply in response to the impact of the Hong Kong dollar, the stock atmosphere turned pale, and people worried that the sharp rise in interest rates would push down the stock market and the property market. At this time, speculators took advantage of the situation to sell the futures index, causing it to plummet.
As a result, people in the stock market are in a panic. When they sell stocks in a panic, speculators can close their positions and make huge profits. In other words, although speculators failed to get a return on the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar, or even suffered a slight loss, they made huge profits in the futures market. ?
In this regard, the Hong Kong financial authorities launched a tit-for-tat struggle. Their measures are: first, using huge foreign exchange reserves to absorb Hong Kong dollars; Second, raise interest rates and tighten monetary policy. After some counter-attacks, Hong Kong stocks stopped falling and began to soar, mainly because Chinese and foreign funds entered the market, and 24 blue-chip and red-chip listed companies repurchased shares from the market, pushing the market up.
China Telecom's re-raising of shares above the share price level also played a certain stimulating role, making red chips and state-owned enterprises suspend their rebound. In addition, the interest rate cut in China mainland has also become the theme of market rise, which led to the rapid rebound of Hang Seng Index. Under the strong rebound of the stock market, the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar returned to stability. At this point, this thrilling battle for Hong Kong dollars has come to an end.
Tung Chee-hwa, Chief Executive of the SAR, praised Financial Secretary Donald Tsang and his colleagues for their "truly commendable" handling of the crisis. Although this contest ended in a difficult victory of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the shock it brought to people was not limited to the crisis itself, it forced more people to think. ?
Finally, the Financial Secretary, Donald Tsang, publicly stated that the Hong Kong Government would conduct an internal review as soon as possible, and meet with scholars and business people to sum up the financial turmoil and find better countermeasures to prevent the Hong Kong dollar from being hit by foreign exchange speculation again.
Extended data:
At the beginning of Hong Kong's return from 65438 to 0997, the Asian financial crisis broke out. 1998 from mid-July to August, international financial speculators attacked the Hong Kong dollar three times and took actions in the foreign exchange market, stock market and futures market at the same time.
They used financial futures to buy Hong Kong dollars with three-month or six-month Hong Kong dollar futures contracts, and then quickly sold them short, resulting in a sharp rise in Hong Kong dollar interest rates and a sharp drop in the Hang Seng Index, from which they made huge profits.
Faced with the rampant attack of international financial speculators, the Hong Kong SAR Government decided to fight back. 1In August, 1998, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority used the Exchange Fund to invest a lot of money in the stock and futures markets, preparing to fight to the end. The 28th is the settlement date of the Hang Seng Futures Index of Hong Kong stock market in August, and a decisive battle broke out between the SAR government and speculators.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Hong Kong Financial Defence War