China Becomes Second Stock Market Superpower – German Newspaper

The New York Stock Exchange should get ready for a serious competitor. The fact that the Chinese stock market will finally open to the outside world raises concerns among Americans as China is likely to become a very attractive place for major investors, writes major German daily Die Welt.

The Shenzhen stock exchange is expected to become directly linked to the Hong Kong stock exchange, following the stock market in Shanghai. Thus, all three major Chinese stock markets will merge, creating a new global center of stock trading, comparable to Wall Street.

"It would be a real breakthrough," Christina Chung, chief strategist at Allianz Global Investors, said.

In case of unification, a total capitalization of the Chinese stock market will reach $13 trillion. The country will become the second largest stock market superpower after the New York Stock Exchange ($16.5 trillion) and a serious competitor for Wall Street.

The Chinese market has always been quite large, but the trade in China was carried out “behind high walls” and the market itself was divided into three parts. In Shanghai and Shenzhen, only Chinese citizens had the right to trade, while foreign access to the stock exchange was restricted. Hong Kong, by contrast, was a place exclusively for foreigner traders, and the Chinese had no opportunity to invest their money there.

In November last year, the first link between the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges was established. Thus, investors from all around the world got an opportunity to buy and sell shares in Shanghai via Hong Kong.