Bloomberg reports that the number of new accounts opened by the Hong Kong and mainland China stock exchange mechanism has increased dramatically this year.

According to data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, special separate accounts opened by institutional investors in Hong Kong to trade stocks in Shenzhen and Shanghai increased 70% in the first three quarters of this year to over 2,000.

The second Unicom plan, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, was launched in December last year, increasing the number of mainland Chinese listed stocks that can be traded in Hong Kong by more than 800. In June of this year, MSCI said it would include Chinese stocks in its benchmark index next year; the index compilers said this move would bring in capital inflows of about 17 billion US dollars.

Neil McLean, executive director of non-Japanese Asian trading at Instinet Pacific, which is wholly owned by Nomura Holdings, said that his company is doing a roadshow with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Europe this week. He said that investors from outside of Asia are increasingly interested in stock connectivity.

In the first half of this year, the daily turnover of northbound trading under the stock interconnection mechanism between Hong Kong and mainland China increased by more than 40%. However, the mechanism has not yet reached its full momentum due to restrictions due to some issues. These issues include the system being shut down for about 30 days a year due to related holiday arrangements. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange said it is trying to resolve the issue.