CLSA sees 'Ghost Train' as Connect flows sink
The flood of buy orders for Shanghai shares through the Hong Kong exchange link slowed to a trickle two days after the program's debut.
Net purchases of mainland equities by global investors totaled 2.6 billion yuan ($425 million) on Wednesday, down from about 4.8 billion yuan on Tuesday and the maximum 13 billion yuan on Monday. Hong Kong stock buying slowed 68 percent from Tuesday to 253 million yuan. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent and shares of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd posted the biggest three-day drop since 2011.
The tumble in demand on Tuesday spurred investment bank CLSA Ltd to call the program a "Ghost Train", a reference to the so-called through train plan to let mainland investors buy Hong Kong shares, which was originally proposed in 2007. That proposal sent the Hang Seng Index surging before being abandoned.
