The real estate market was booming, and the HSI peaked at 16,673 points in August. In 1997, Hong Kong's economy was more resilient than its Asian peers. The huge influx of foreign capital that had fueled Asia's boom was quickly pulled out, leaving a trail of destruction. One after the other, the currencies of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea were brought to the ground.

The crisis quickly spread across the region as predatory hedge funds, such as Soros' Quantum Fund, feasted on the bloodbath by shorting the Asian markets. dollar, effectively crashing the currency. The country was forced to abandon the baht's fixed exchange rate with the U.S. On July 2, 1997, just a day after Hong Kong's return to China, Thailand became the first casualty in the Asian financial crisis, following a calculated attack on the baht from international speculators. As a key commercial hub with the freest economy in the world, Hong Kong also benefited from the boom, particularly in the property market. International hot money was pouring into Asia amid praise for the 'Asian Miracle' and bloated optimism. The 1990s saw the liberalization of capital markets in Asia. dollars) worth of stocks and futures in two breathtaking weeks of trading, and eventually driving out international speculators. In the summer of 1998, as a financial earthquake devastated Asia's economy, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government won a hard-fought battle to defend the Hong Kong dollar and Hang Seng Index (HSI) against speculative attacks led by American billionaire investor George Soros.īacked by Beijing, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) made the controversial decision on August 14 to enter the market, buying up 118 billion HK dollars' (15 billion U.S.

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