By Samuel Shen and John Ruwitch
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Scores of Hong Kong-listed companies - many small - are on a roadshow blitz in China to whet the appetite of mainland investors ahead of the launch of a cross-border investment link between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Mainland investors are enthusiastic, viewing the cross-border channel as a way to buy relatively cheap growth companies and hedge against a rapidly falling yuan, which hit an eight-year low on Friday against the dollar.
"Valuations of Hong Kong stocks are very low. In addition, the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar, so when you buy Hong Kong dollar assets, you're actually buying into the U.S. dollar," Ma Hong, general manager of Shanghai TopFund Investment Management Co, said at an event in Shanghai promoting the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect trading link.
"For us, the Hong Kong market represents a strong currency plus cheap assets ... we need to embrace it."
China and Hong Kong have not specified when the link would open, but the head of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd said on Friday it would go live "in a few more days".
The link would allow Chinese investors access to about 100 smaller companies listed in Hong Kong. The existing Shanghai-to-Hong Kong link allows investment in 318 bigger Hong Kong-listed companies.
Since the Shanghai link opened two years ago, Chinese investors have bought a net 294.7 billion yuan ($42.8 billion) of Hong Kong shares, more than double the purchases of Shanghai shares by Hong Kong, highlighting the more lukewarm interest of foreign investors in Chinese shares.
The southbound money flow has halved the premium that Chinese listed shares had over Hong Kong shares this year alone. (.HSCAHPI)
UBS forecast net inflows from China into Hong Kong next year would be 160 billion yuan under the two links, but some are making bolder predications.
Industrial Securities, a Chinese brokerage, estimated that Chinese insurers, which have recently been allowed to participate in the connect schemes, will invest 400-600 billion yuan into Hong Kong stocks by the end of 2017.
China maintains tight controls on capital movements across its borders and since the stock market crash last year has been clamping down on capital outflows.
Zhou Jie, chairman of Haitong Securities , told a promotional event sponsored by the brokerage in Shanghai that there is pent up demand in China for global investment opportunities.
The Shanghai and Shenzhen trading links provide a valve for that demand. But while they give Chinese investors a chance to hedge against the falling yuan, they are closed systems aimed at preventing Chinese money leaking offshore.