A high-speed connection—known colloquially as the “through train”—between the stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai finally allowed traders in Hong Kong and Shanghai to buy and sell one another’s stocks for the first time last month. At first, things got off to a slow start.
But now pent-up money appears to be surging across the border, supercharging the mainland Chinese stock exchange. In fact, Chinese regulators saw such a huge influx of cash coming in that they told investors to cool their jets. The government has been trying to tamp down on speculative “hot money” from foreigners as it tries to shift the economy to wards consumption over the investment-based model that has driven Chinese growth for decades.
In other markets news, the energy complex continued to tumble this week, hammering Russia’s ruble. Japanese shares rose on the the weakening yen. And oat prices rebounded sharply after a nasty tumble in recent weeks.