HKEX Holidays 2026 and 2027: Full Trading Calendar

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange, operated by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), trades from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm Hong Kong time (HKT), Monday to Friday, with a one-hour lunch break in between. Hong Kong does not observe daylight saving time, so HKT stays at UTC+8 all year: the morning session opens at 9:30 pm ET the previous evening and 2:30 am in London while the United States and Britain are on summer time, and an hour later in each city once the clocks go back. The next closure is National Day on Thursday, October 1, 2026, when the securities and derivatives markets, and Stock Connect trading with the mainland, are shut for the whole day. Every date on this page is taken from the HKEX calendar.

Hong Kong is the main venue for Chinese technology and financial listings, so its closures matter well beyond the territory. When HKEX is shut, price discovery for names such as Tencent, Alibaba and HSBC shifts to their secondary listings and depositary receipts in London and New York, and to mainland A-shares where a dual listing exists. Traders who position around US data, including the US CPI report and the US jobs report, should check whether Hong Kong is open on the following morning: an American release at 8:30 am ET lands in the middle of the Hong Kong night, and a closed Hong Kong market means the Asian reaction is delayed by a full day.

HKEX holidays 2026

These are the remaining full-day closures and half-day sessions on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2026. On half-day trading days the morning session runs as normal and there is no afternoon session.

HKEX holidays 2027

The 2027 calendar contains 13 full-day closures on weekdays plus 3 half-day sessions. Several 2027 public holidays fall at the weekend, including Labour Day on Saturday, May 1 and the first two days of Lunar New Year on Saturday, February 6 and Sunday, February 7, which is why the Lunar New Year break shows only the third and fourth days.

Early closes and half days

Hong Kong applies a simple rule: on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Lunar New Year’s Eve the exchange trades the morning session only and there is no afternoon session. Continuous trading ends at 12:00 noon HKT, the closing auction runs from 12:00 pm to 12:10 pm, and stock options also stop at 12:00 noon, according to HKEX. If one of those eves falls at the weekend, there is no half day that year.

The half days in the calendar above are Thursday, December 24, 2026, Thursday, December 31, 2026, Friday, February 5, 2027, Friday, December 24, 2027 and Friday, December 31, 2027. Converted into other time zones, a 12:00 noon HKT close is 11:00 pm ET the previous evening and 4:00 am in London while the northern hemisphere is on winter time.

Two points catch investors out. First, liquidity on half days is thin and the closing auction sets the official closing price for the day, which matters for index calculations and for funds that value portfolios at the close. Second, a half day is still a full settlement day, so a trade executed at 11:59 am HKT carries the same settlement obligations as one executed on a normal Wednesday.

Trading hours on HKEX

The securities market runs in three parts: a pre-opening auction, continuous trading split into morning and afternoon sessions, and a closing auction that sets the official close. The table shows local time alongside conversions for New York and London. The ET and London columns are given for northern hemisphere summer time (US Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-4, and British Summer Time, UTC+1); in winter, subtract one hour from each of those figures because Hong Kong does not change its clocks.

During the pre-opening auction, orders accumulate and are matched at a single price, and brokers stop accepting or amending at-auction limit orders shortly before 9:30 am. There is no separate retail pre-market or after-hours session for Hong Kong shares in the way US investors know it from Nasdaq or the NYSE. Derivatives are different: HKEX runs an after-hours session, known as the T+1 session, for index futures and options that extends into the small hours, with closing hours extended to 3:00 am from June 2019, according to the Hong Kong government.

One structural change is worth knowing. Since September 23, 2024, HKEX has kept the securities and derivatives markets open during typhoon signal 8 or above and black rainstorm warnings under its Severe Weather Trading arrangements, ending a decades-old practice of suspending trading. Weather is therefore no longer a reason to expect an unscheduled Hong Kong closure.

How holidays affect settlement, dividends and options

Hong Kong cash equities settle on a T+2 basis, meaning cash and shares change hands two business days after the trade. Holidays extend that clock. A purchase on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 settles on Monday, October 5, 2026, because Thursday, October 1 is a public holiday and does not count as a business day. Note the contrast with the United States, which moved to T+1 settlement in 2024, and with mainland China, where A-share securities settlement happens on the trade date itself.

Practical consequences to plan for:

• Dividends. Because entitlement depends on settled positions, an ex-dividend or record date sitting next to a Hong Kong holiday pushes back the last day to buy and still receive the payment. Check the company announcement rather than assuming the usual gap.
• Options and futures expiry. HKEX equity index futures and options expire close to the end of the contract month, so a closure in the final days of a month can move the expiry date earlier. Positions left open across a long break carry two or three days of extra time decay and gap risk with no chance to trade out.
• Stock Connect. Northbound and southbound trading links between Hong Kong and the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges are suspended when either market is closed or when settlement cannot be completed on both sides, so mainland investors cannot buy Hong Kong shares on Hong Kong holidays and vice versa. The mainland’s Lunar New Year and National Day breaks are longer than Hong Kong’s, so there are stretches where Hong Kong trades without mainland participation through the link.
• Currency and funding. Hong Kong dollar payment systems follow the same holiday schedule, so foreign exchange trades and margin transfers involving HKD lose value dates across the break. Anyone funding a Hong Kong account from abroad should allow extra days around National Day and Lunar New Year.

Other markets

Hong Kong dollar bonds trade over the counter rather than in a central exchange session, and dealing effectively stops when local banks close, though global desks in London and New York keep quoting Asian credit. Derivatives are the exception to the shutdown rule: HKEX operates Derivatives Holiday Trading, which allows selected futures and options to trade on some Hong Kong public holidays that are business days elsewhere, so international investors can still hedge index exposure. Cryptocurrency markets never close, which is why bitcoin and ether often lead the price action during long Asian holidays.

Shared holidays are where global calendars line up. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day close Hong Kong, London, New York, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore. Good Friday closes Hong Kong, the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, but Easter Monday closes Hong Kong and London while the NYSE and Nasdaq trade normally. That asymmetry, on Monday, March 29, 2027 for example, creates a day when the US sets the tone for Asian sentiment without any Asian or European cash market able to respond until the following session.

Purely local closures cut the other way. Ching Ming Festival, Buddha’s Birthday, Tuen Ng Festival, the Chung Yeung Festival and HKSAR Establishment Day are Hong Kong events with no counterpart elsewhere. On those days, US-listed depositary receipts and London-listed dual listings continue trading, so Hong Kong shares can reopen with a visible gap that reflects one or two sessions of overseas news, including any change in US interest rate expectations after the US PCE report or a shift in growth data such as the US GDP report.

What It Means for Your Money

If you hold a pension, an index tracker or a global fund, part of it almost certainly touches Hong Kong: the market is a core component of MSCI’s emerging market and Asia indices. On a Hong Kong holiday, the Hong Kong slice of your fund simply does not reprice. Fund valuations still get published, using the last available prices, so a quoted daily move can look artificially small. Nothing is wrong, and the catch-up shows up in the next session.

For anyone buying or selling Hong Kong shares directly, holidays affect timing rather than value. An order placed with a broker while the market is shut sits in a queue until the next pre-opening auction at 9:00 am HKT, and it will be filled at whatever price the reopening produces. If you want control over the price you pay, use a limit order rather than a market order across a break. Cash sale proceeds also arrive later, because T+2 settlement counts business days only.

Currency matters for savers outside Hong Kong. The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar in a band of 7.75 to 7.85, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority tracks Federal Reserve policy closely, so Hong Kong deposit and mortgage rates follow US rates more than local conditions. For a UK or euro area investor, the return on a Hong Kong holding depends heavily on sterling or euro moves against the US dollar, and a closed Hong Kong market does not stop that currency risk accruing.

Practical steps: avoid placing large market orders into a reopening after a multi-day break, plan any transfer of money into or out of a Hong Kong account with two or three extra working days around National Day and Lunar New Year, and check the exchange calendar before setting a trade date that has to settle by a deadline, for example for a tax year end.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Hong Kong stock market open today?

HKEX trades Monday to Friday from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm HKT, except on the public holidays listed above. The next full-day closure is Thursday, October 1, 2026 for National Day.

What time does HKEX close on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve?

Trading ends at 12:00 noon HKT with a closing auction from 12:00 pm to 12:10 pm, and there is no afternoon session. That applies to December 24 and December 31, 2026, and to December 24 and December 31, 2027.

Is the bond market open when HKEX is closed?

Hong Kong dollar bonds trade over the counter and dealing stops on local public holidays because the banks and payment systems are shut. Asian and global bonds still trade in London and New York on Hong Kong-only holidays.

How many holidays does HKEX have in 2027?

The 2027 calendar shows 13 full-day closures on weekdays plus 3 half-day sessions, on Lunar New Year’s Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

Where is the official HKEX holiday calendar?

HKEX publishes the authoritative list on its own site at hkex.com.hk, and the Hong Kong government gazettes the underlying general holidays. Dates for lunar festivals shift each year, so confirm them against the exchange calendar before making plans.