The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the second link between bourses in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, made a debut on Monday.
Stocks in both bourses of Shenzhen and Hong Kong closed slightly lower Monday afternoon.
As of the close, only 1.059 billion RMB of the daily quota for southbound trading (10.5 billion RMB) and 2.711 billion RMB of the quota for northbound trading (13 billion RMB), were used up.
HKEX Chief Executive Charles Li said at a launch ceremony that he did not expect a sharp rise in turnover shortly after the launch, since "the openness of China's market is already at a high level" because a similar link between the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses has been launched in 2014.
The significance of launching the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect lies in "demonstrating China's most innovative industries and enterprises to investors in the world", Li stressed.
Grand ceremonies were held simultaneously Monday morning at Hong Kong and Shenzhen bourses via video link as Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) Chairman Chow Chung-kong and Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying jointly beat a gong to mark the launch.
"Following the footsteps of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect ... Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect is yet another milestone in deepening mutual access between the capital markets in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong," Leung said at the ceremony.
Compared with Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the new scheme between Shenzhen and Hong Kong represents "an enhanced version" in terms of its expanded scope of eligible securities, as well as the lift of limits on aggregate quota upon its launch, Leung said.
The new scheme is aimed at giving global investors access to stocks in the tech-heavy Shenzhen market via Hong Kong bourse. A total of 417 stocks on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong are eligible for trading, and 881 stocks are eligible on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
According to a recent research report by HSBC, since 70 percent of the enterprises listed in the Shenzhen bourse are from high-tech industries, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will provide global investors "unprecedented opportunities" to invest in the "future growth of China".
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect is exemplary of Hong Kong's combined advantages of "one country, two systems," he said.
"We are, indeed, a 'super-connector' between the rest of China and the rest of the world." Li described the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect as "the second leg" for the stock markets in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, "Now we can walk, and then we can run."
HKEX said it is also considering to include the tradings of ETF, goods and bonds into similar "schemes of interconnectivity". (1 USD equals to 6.8830 RMB)
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