As China’s Investors Rush In, Hong Kong Shares Take a Wild Ride -
By NEIL GOUGHAPRIL 30, 2017
HONG KONG — Meitu had been a snoozer of a stock since listing in Hong Kong in December.
What China has brought to the Hong Kong stock market is “very much a herd mentality,”
said Andrew Clarke, the head of trading in Hong Kong at the Mirabaud Group.
Still, he added, “there’s always going to be a few dark corners and little alleys that ordinary folks don’t usually go in.”
Referring to some new investors from the mainland, he said, “The tourists don’t know better.”
China is slowly and fitfully lowering its financial barriers with the rest of the world, as Beijing tries to balance
its desire for stability with its ambitions to have a much greater say in the global conversation about money.
Mr. Ngan said the company had chosen to list in Hong Kong because it was the only place
that provided broad access to a base of shareholders from foreign countries and, via the Stock Connect program, from mainland China.
Meitu became available to investors in mainland China in early March under a program linking stock markets there with Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong Stock Connect has increased the volatility level of both Shanghai and Hong Kong markets,” he said.
In fact, those experts say, the presence of more mainland Chinese investors has made the Hong Kong market more volatile, adding to pressures
that prompted the city’s market officials in recent weeks to publicly defend its stability.