Chapter 301 Third Issue: Attacking the Hong Kong Dollar

So far, international hot money has used the whole set of tricks to attack the Hang Seng market. First, the New Taiwan dollar suddenly announced free floating without warning on Friday, which dealt a serious blow to the Southeast Asian money market that had just recovered a little. On the anniversary day, the Hong Kong stock market was sold out wantonly, combined with the instability of the currency market, the Hang Seng Index fell by more than 2,000 points in a row; finally, the main event was finally staged, that is, a full-scale attack on the Hong Kong dollar market, which directly impacted the Hang Seng Index.

  …

  It is not difficult to find the phone numbers of public officials in Hong Kong, especially the higher the position, the more information will be disclosed. Of course, it is impossible to directly expect these public servants to answer these public calls in person. They are usually received by the staff. If there is very important information, they are usually transferred, and their private calls are kept very confidential. , most people would never know. But Ma Jiarui was not worried about this, he first dialed Zhong Shi and gave him a number.

   "Hi, hello, I'm Zhou Liming, who are you?"

   Zhou Liming? Isn't it the most popular reporter in Hong Kong recently? The one who exclusively reported the embarrassing scene of the Hong Kong police at the gunpoint of the robbers, causing the entire police system in Hong Kong to be criticized by all walks of life, and the police commissioner finally came out to apologize? Such a piece of information flashed through Ma Jiarui's mind immediately, but he didn't ask any more questions, but went straight to the point, and said in a deep voice, "Someone told me that you can get the private phone numbers of Ren Yigang and Cen Yinquan here, right?"

"certainly!"

   Zhou Liming smiled. Since he reported the street robbery, he immediately became a big celebrity in the Hong Kong news circle. Many high-ranking officials came to make friends. I hope he can show mercy in the future. And Zhou Liming is also very smart, he quickly used this opportunity to expand his network, and met many celebrities from all walks of life, which also made his sources of news more extensive.

Today's Zhou Liming is no longer that little reporter running around, now he is the chief reporter of Sing Pao, all he needs to do every day is to sit in an air-conditioned room and make phone calls, and make appointments with interviewees. Then everyone finds a quiet place to have a cup of coffee and chat, and just like this, an exclusive news is released.

  Although Ren Yigang is the president of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Cen Yinquan is the director of the Financial Secretary, these powers are nothing compared to the uncrowned king. At a financial gathering, Zhou Liming met them once, and the two of them obviously knew the most popular reporter in Hong Kong at present, and they both wanted to make friends with each other. In the end, Zhou Liming got their private numbers.

Therefore, when Zhou Liming heard that someone asked him about the phone numbers of Ren and Cen, he felt a burst of pride in his heart, but he quickly reacted and asked quickly: "Who are you? Why do you have my call? You What do you want to do?"

"How about we make a deal?" The voice on the other end of the phone could not hear any emotional fluctuations, and did not intend to answer Zhou Liming's question directly, "It doesn't matter who I am, does it? This deal is, you give me The phone calls of the two senior officials, I will give you an exclusive news."

   After a pause, the voice continued: "This news is very explosive. It is definitely the headline that any reporter wants, even as good as the news about the police running around with their heads in their arms."

"what?"

Zhou Liming, who was lying on the bed and watching TV boredly, immediately sat up straight, put on his nightgown, and ran to the bathroom. When he was inside, he locked the door and said in a low voice: "Okay, if the news is reliable, I... No , These two are powerful celebrities in the financial world, are they involved in insider trading or financial news, could they be involved?"

  He immediately became very excited. Although he didn't know much about finance and economics, it didn't hinder his sensitivity to this kind of news. If it was as he expected, it would indeed be big news.

Who would have thought that the voice on the other end of the phone would chuckle, with a slightly contemptuous meaning, "What kind of news is this? The news I want to tell you is definitely ten times more powerful than this, no, more than a hundred times .”

"what?"

  Zhou Liming exclaimed again. Obviously, the answer was beyond his imagination, but he quickly reacted and asked in a low voice: "What exactly is it, can you tell me first?"

   "You seem to have forgotten our deal?" The deep voice didn't agree.

   "Okay, you wait." Zhou Liming quickly opened the door of the bathroom, rushed into the bedroom, took out his business card holder, and began to search.

  …

  Ren Yigang was soaking in the bathtub at this time. Beside the bathtub, there was a bottle of 1982 Lafite and a thick cigar. He is a person who enjoys life very much. Decades of hard work in the workplace have made him a position where he cannot be promoted, so he can only be "promoted" in terms of salary, so compared to ordinary middle-class civil servants , the salary of the president of the HKMA is very high, which is high enough for him to enjoy these luxuries without being suspected of embezzling public funds by the outside world.

Because of his long-term contact with the British, Ren Yigang quickly developed the habit of drinking red wine. This bottle of 1982 Lafite produced by Bordeaux chateau is recognized as one of the best red wines, because the grapes of that year were of the best quality, so The wines of this vintage are also the most expensive.

Obviously, he doesn't care about the money. In fact, only France and some pretentious Asian regions, including Hong Kong, have a paranoid taste for red wine. In their eyes, this may be a symbol of taste, but in fact Red wine is just an embellishment of the upper class, and has nothing to do with taste.

   Shake the scarlet liquid in the glass, smell it again, and then look at the color with the light. These are said to be essential steps for red wine tasting, but how can French things be so popular in this world? It's all just posturing.

Obviously, the president didn't care about it. He took a puff of his cigar, then shook his head and drank the red wine in the glass in one gulp. Then he submerged his head in the bathtub, and only after a long time did he lift it up again, taking a deep breath After that, he let out a long exclamation.

   This is his habit, a way of reducing blood pressure that has been formed over the years. Although he has occupied the position of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for a long time, both the British Hong Kong government and the top officials of the SAR government trust him, but the pressure from various aspects is still coming one after another, so only he knows the pressure that Ren Yigang is under. .

   There is such a crisis in front of him that can be called the biggest crisis in his career, that is, the security of the Hong Kong dollar. You must know that this problem involves the livelihood of millions of people in Hong Kong, as well as the location of Hong Kong's financial center. It can be said that if there is a slight mistake, Hong Kong will be plunged into a situation where it will never be restored.

  Of course, Ren Yigang knows that international hot money will not let Hong Kong go, and the HKMA has made sufficient preparations, but when and how it will happen have become the issues they are most concerned about.

   Just as he closed his eyes and meditated, the phone at hand rang. In this position, he can hardly stop for a moment, so the phone is ready 24 hours a day.

"Hello, I'm Ren Yigang, who are you?" After picking up the phone, seeing an unfamiliar number, Ren Yigang frowned slightly, and subconsciously wanted to press it, but his intuition told him that the number might be important. The message, so the ghost picked it up.

A deep voice came from the other end of the phone, saying: "President Ren, don't ask me who I am, it doesn't make sense. What I want to tell you is that hedge funds will soon attack the Hong Kong dollar, not tonight, but tomorrow, hopefully Get ready." After speaking, he hung up the phone immediately.

   "..."

Ren Yigang was stunned for a moment, holding the phone and didn't know what to do, but he was not an ordinary person after all, at least after a short pause, he immediately became alert, "Hula" stood up from the bathtub, and casually wiped his face. He got down, put on his bathrobe and walked out of the bathroom.

Soon, the phone rang again, and this time he picked it up without thinking, and heard a familiar voice inside saying: "Ren Sheng, I just received a mysterious call, the content is that international speculators will launch an attack on the Hong Kong dollar." , what do you think of this matter?"

The person who spoke was the financial secretary, Cen Yinquan. He is in charge of Hong Kong's fiscal policy, and Ren Yigang, who is in charge of monetary policy, is the two pillars of Hong Kong's economy. frequently.

"I think it's true. I also received a related phone call just now." Ren Yigang said without hesitation, "And he also disclosed a piece of information just now, that is, hedge funds are attacking the Hong Kong dollar, and I believe it should be tipped off by insiders. "

   "Then we..."

"I don't know the situation yet. I will ask my colleagues to follow up. I will contact you as soon as there is any important news. Now, I have to go back, and the Financial Secretary should make relevant preparations." Ren Yigang moved quickly, wearing Get dressed and go outside.

  …

  In the Hong Kong dollar foreign exchange market, traders at night are staring nervously at the market, while maintaining the stability of the Hong Kong dollar value according to instructions. So far, the value of the Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar has been pushed back by them to stand above the important psychological mark of 7.75, which makes them invariably relieved.

   This price is an important watershed, indicating the level of market confidence in the Hong Kong dollar. Therefore, analysts in the foreign exchange market have always regarded this price as a predictor of the trend of the Hong Kong dollar. Due to the influence of the currency crisis in Southeast Asia during this period, the Hong Kong dollar has not been able to hold its position firmly, so there have been rumors of the Hong Kong dollar weakening all the time, but what is more reassuring for the time being is that the fluctuations of the Hong Kong dollar throughout the day are very small. Only 0.01% at most. Therefore, the HKMA is not very worried about the value of the Hong Kong dollar.

   "Not good, there is a large sell order in the market!" Just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the value of the Hong Kong dollar suddenly fell, breaking through the 7.75 defense line.

   "Look slowly first." At this moment, Ren Yigang's figure appeared in the trading room, and he was staring at the K-line chart with a thoughtful expression on his face.

   Soon, the exchange rate of Hong Kong dollar to U.S. dollar fell in a straight line, first to 7.7510, then to 7.7520, and the speed of the decline was astonishing. At this time, Ren Yigang didn't understand why. It was obvious that someone in the market had sold Hong Kong dollars in a big way, and it also confirmed the correctness of the news. So he waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "Proceed according to the original plan!"

  The original plan was naturally to buy Hong Kong dollars and sell U.S. dollars to maintain the exchange rate. The two sides began to fight hand-to-hand, and together with other participants, the trading of Hong Kong dollars became the most active currency in the London market for a while. What makes people wonder is that the currency speculators' offensive seems to be only a flash in the pan. As of the closing time in London, the price of Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar stayed at 7.7410, with a drop (rise) of as much as 0.08%.

  As for the HKMA, a total of 35 million US dollars was spent on entering the market to protect the market. This amount is more than enough in the face of selling orders. It has to be said that it is a strange thing. The depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar for five consecutive trading days before this has reduced the value of the Hong Kong dollar from the highest position of 7.7335 to the lowest level of 7.7480. Especially in the last trading day, it was dragged down by the depreciation of Southeast Asian currencies, which depreciated by 0.10%.

   "The rain is coming!" Ren Yigang looked at the final price and sighed silently in his heart.

PS: I found a strange thing. Starting from October 20, 1997, the Hong Kong dollar actually appreciated after breaking through 7.75. It even rose to the point where 7.72 Hong Kong dollars were exchanged for 1 U.S. dollar. It is said that mysterious calls also existed. It can be seen that the international speculators are really powerful! The specific reason will be explained later. Finally, thank you for making me think about it again!

  

  

  (end of this chapter)