Although gambling is illegal in China – except at the baccarat tables of Macau and Hong Kong’s twin horse tracks – there is one venue on the mainland where some say that games of chance are officially sanctioned: the stock market.
But that could be changing. There is a growing feeling among investors that China’s regulators are finally taking some of the necessary steps to transform the equity casino into a genuine international capital market.
Mark Makepeace, chief executive of FTSE, said this week that recent market reforms could make China eligible for inclusion into international indices within three to five years – a move that would have wide implications for the market and for global asset allocators.