Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEx) has published a list comprising of 414 Shanghai-listed A shares that are eligible to be shorted from 2 March 2015. However, on that first day of availability, there were no short trades at all conducted northbound.
The tally of 414 means that not all of the 569 A shares that are available to northbound investors in the Stock Connect can be sold short.
HKEx says it is going to supply details on a daily basis about the maximum number of shares available for short selling. Every quarter of an hour during the trading day, the remaining balance available for short selling will be updated.
Short selling turnover will be published twice daily, after the close of the morning session and after the market close.
The total amount of A shares listed in Shanghai currently numbers 950. Not all shares therefore are available to Hong Kong traders within the Stock Connect programme in Shanghai.
The market is watching closely whether the proposed Shenzhen Stock Connect would embrace a wider spectrum of its constituent stocks – given that smaller and medium-sized cap shares in Shenzhen have grabbed more investor interest lately.