Time zone · Asia
HKT
Hong Kong Standard Time
Hong Kong Standard Time (HKK) sits at UTC+08:00 and has stayed there unwaveringly since 1979, an eight-hour head start on the prime meridian and zero fuss about springing forward or falling back. Whether you're pulling a late night in Kowloon or syncing with partners in Sydney, Singapore, or Taipei, the clock never moves — straight-forward, always-on, and as reliable as the city's skyline.
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Current offset
UTC+08:00
Standard · HKT
Daylight saving
Not observed
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
1
None observe daylight saving
DST offset
—
No summer variant
About HKT
A fixed, year-round offset.
Hong Kong Standard Time (HKK) sits at UTC+08:00 and has stayed there unwaveringly since 1979, an eight-hour head start on the prime meridian and zero fuss about springing forward or falling back. Whether you're pulling a late night in Kowloon or syncing with partners in Sydney, Singapore, or Taipei, the clock never moves — straight-forward, always-on, and as reliable as the city's skyline.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The zone that resolve to HKT.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities currently on HKT
The same hour, city by city.
6 cities · all UTC+08:00
Where HKT is used
One country.
Same offset · UTC+08:00
Other zones at UTC+08:00 right now.
These named zones share HKT's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about HKT, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- When did Hong Kong permanently adopt HKT at UTC+08:00?
- Hong Kong locked the clock at UTC+08:00 on 21 October 1979, scrapping daylight-saving-style shifts and keeping every future conversion dead simple.
- Does HKT share its offset with other major business hubs?
- Yes — UTC+08:00 is also the standard time for Singapore, mainland China, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Perth, making Hong Kong a natural syncing anchor for almost the entire Asia–Pacific workday.
- Is there ever a short-notice shift to HKT?
- No. Hong Kong has been a single, fixed offset zone with zero transitions since the 1979 anchor, so scheduling tools can treat it as fully static year-round.
- What hour does HKT land when London hits 09:00 UTC?
- When it reads 09:00 UTC in London, HKT reads 17:00 — the end of the standard workday in Hong Kong and the beginning of the London morning hand-off.
- What hour does HKT land when New York hits 09:00 ET?
- When New York opens at 09:00 ET (UTC-05:00), it is already 22:00 in Hong Kong, a gap that makes same-day coordination require either late-night or early-morning effort on one side.
- Why is HKT co-located with no DST a real advantage for trade desks?
- A fixed UTC+08:00 means traders never mistake a shift for a volatility spike and platforms never mis-align order timestamps after a DST fallback in Europe or the Americas.
- What practical day-to-day tips help teams sync with HKT?
- Have London teams schedule calls before 12:00 UTC so Hong Kong colleagues join before 20:00 local time, and have New York teams start by 07:00 ET to clear same-day approvals before Asia logs off.
- Does HKT's alignment with China Standard Time create a hidden overlap?
- Because both use UTC+08:00 with zero DST, cross-border teams in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Hong Kong share identical timestamps, eliminating clock errors in supply-chain and financial pipelines.
- What makes HKT a picky choice for API test-fixture design?
- Every dated event in HKT can be tested against a single, unbroken eight-hour positive offset from UTC — no isDST toggles, no before/after tables, and zero edge-case transitions since October 1979.
Free · Developer API
Time, as JSON.
Every IANA time zone with live offsets, DST status, and the countries and cities that use them — clean, dependable JSON. Sign up free and get an API key in seconds.
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