HKEX is pleased this month to be celebrating the 9th anniversary of Stock Connect, the landmark mutual market access programme linking Hong Kong and Mainland China’s equity capital markets.
Over the past nine years, Stock Connect has seen sustained volume growth across both Northbound and Southbound trading. It has become the primary cross-border investment channel of choice for regional and international investors seeking access to and from the Mainland and Hong Kong markets.
For the first 10 months of 2023, average daily turnover of Northbound trading reached RMB108.4 billion, up 7 per cent from a year earlier, while average daily Southbound turnover during the same period was up 9 per cent to $31.5 billion.
Cumulative Northbound Stock Connect (Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Connect) turnover since launch totaled RMB111.8 trillion, resulting in a net capital inflow into the A-share market of RMB1.8 trillion. Cumulative Southbound Stock Connect turnover since totaled $37.3 trillion, bringing a net capital inflow of $2.9 trillion into the Hong Kong market.
Hong Kong and international investors held a total of RMB2.1 trillion in A-shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges as at 31 October 2023, up from just RMB86.5 billion as at the end of 2014. Mainland investors held $2.3 trillion worth of Hong Kong-listed shares through Stock Connect as at 31 October 2023, compared with $13.1 billion at the end of 2014.
HKEX has been working closely with its Mainland exchange partners to enhance and expand the Stock Connect programme to benefit Hong Kong, Mainland and international investors. Major enhancements include the removal of the aggregate quota, increased daily quotas and the launch of an investor identification model for both Northbound and Southbound trading. Other refinements include an increase to the number of Stock Connect trading days, a significant expansion of Stock Connect eligible stocks and the recent launch of HKEX Synapse to improve the efficiency and transparency of Northbound settlement.
HKEX looks forward to continuing to work with the Mainland stock exchanges, regulators, its customers and other stakeholders on bringing even more opportunities to companies and investors in connecting China and the world.