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