Stock plan 'delayed' by protests

Top expert says 'Occupy Central' is negative factor for cross-border trading program

The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program is "unlikely" to be shelved, but could be further delayed if protesters in Hong Kong "continue making trouble", said an official of a top think tank on Monday.

Zhang Chenghui, director of the Finance Institute under the Development Research Center of the State Council, told a news conference that she believed Hong Kong's Occupy Central movement was a cause for the delay of the pilot share trading program.