Cheap Shanghai stocks in demand
Trade skewed heavily towards the northbound flow on the debut of the through train scheme as foreigners pile into railway and liquor plays
Mainland railway and liquor stocks were some of the top picks for foreign investors who went on a buying spree to mark the first day's trade under a much-anticipated scheme linking the Hong Kong and Shanghai share markets.
Institutional funds in Hong Kong yesterday bought 1.81 billion yuan (HK$2.3 billion) of shares in Daqin Railway and 1.37 billion yuan of stock in Kweichow Moutai, the distilled liquor famed for its high prices and limited production, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing said.
SAIC Motor, Ping An Insurance and dairy firm Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group filled out the top five most actively traded stocks.
The rush by foreign investors into the cheaply valued mainland stocks saw the daily quota of 13 billion yuan filled before 2pm yesterday.
Mainland investors, most of whom retail traders, used just 1.8 billion yuan, or 17 per cent, of the 10.5 billion yuan daily quota for purchases of Hong Kong stocks in a lopsided start to the through train scheme.
In contrast to the meagre inflows into Hong Kong, half of the quota for the northbound flow was filled in the first 15 minutes, the exchange said.