Shenzhen-HK link talk sparks surge

A proposal was issued on Tuesday as the outline of the new five-year plan. President Xi Jinping said the country's annual growth rate should be no less than 6.5 percent in the next five years in order to double its GDP and per capita income by 2020 on the basis of 2010.

The proposal will be submitted to the National People's Congress next March for further approval. A final version of the plan will be announced thereafter with various numerical targets, said a JP Morgan report at the end of October.

Separately, Peng added the Shenzhen stock connect is more likely in the first half of next year.

Alexander Lee Ho-wan, strategist of DBS Vickers Securities in Hong Kong, said that a new channel connecting Shenzhen and Hong Kong markets would not significantly boost cross-border investment flows between the two cities. But it will serve as a cheerleader to market momentum. "As more investors come back, the A-share turnover will rise and the market will revive."

Lee said that a new stock connect, among other capital market liberalization efforts, will be a step toward A shares' inclusion in the MSCI indexes, which, if realized, will boost foreign funds' allocation to mainland assets.