The 'great crash' of 2008? Not according to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing chairman Ronald Arculli, who said yesterday that he was not too worried about the economy and that the crash in 1973 was even worse.
'In 1973, the Hang Seng Index dropped from 1,700 points to 1,200 ... and finally plunged to 150 points. We will be able to overcome this, as we have already gone through bad times before,' he said.
But Mr Arculli said other sectors, including retailing, could suffer with the banks tightening access to loans.
The crash 35 years ago was the first serious market disturbance in living memory.
But the city was hit again on October 19, 1987, when the Hang Seng Index fell a then-record 420.81 points, from 3,783.20 points to 3,362.39. The market was shut for four days. When it reopened on October 26, the index fell 1,120.7 points, or 33 per cent, in a single day.
It continued to fall after that, hitting a low of 1,876.18 on December 7.
Ten years later, the Asian financial crisis dragged stocks down again. The index fell from a peak of 16,673.27 on August 7, 1997, to 6,560.15 on August 13, 1998.