Foreign investors buy more A shares

Foreign institutional investors are topping up their holdings of China A shares in anticipation that they will be included in a global equity benchmark following the start of the Hong Kong-Shanghai Connect Program in mid-October.

Analysts said that inclusion in the widely followed Morgan Stanley Capital Index's Emerging Markets Indexes and other international benchmarks, including FTSE standard indexes, is of great importance to A share market because it can boost the confidence of foreign investors and lead to massive buying of shares from funds.

"While A shares are not part of any major global benchmark yet, we believe the conditions for them to be included in the MSCI EMI are already in place," a report issued by Goldman Sachs said.