(ECNS) - The inclusion of 226 China-listed shares into the Emerging Markets Index of the global market research and index company MSCI following the end of trading on May 31, will be a historic moment to bring the mainland and international capital market closer, said experts.
Charles Li Xiaojia, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), said the inclusion marked a milestone in the internationalization of mainland capital markets, great news both to the mainland stock market, Hong Kong as well as the international market.
Li said he expects A-shares, shares of companies based in the Chinese mainland and traded in China, will be included in the global market index at a larger scale and at greater speed.
The MSCI inclusion is expected to unleash a surge of foreign inflow into China's stock markets. Li said HKEX is fully ready to handle the increasing transactions through the Hong Kong-Shanghai and Hong Kong-Shenzhen “stock connect”.
These two-way investment schemes allow investors to buy Chinese shares through Hong Kong, and vice versa. The daily quota for “northbound” purchases of shares reached 6.629 billion yuan on May 31, with 3.03 billion yuan for the Shenzhen bourse, the largest amount since the scheme started.
Lu Yan, a CSOP fund manager, said Hong Kong shares may rise thanks to the incorporation as global investors show more interest in A-shares.
