When China bulls tire of taking a product’s price, multiplying by 1.3bn and getting excited, they turn to the stock market. Imagine, they say, if Shanghai’s A-share market was open to outsiders. Multiply the earnings of companies with 1.3bn customers by a preferred price/earnings ratio, and you have the world’s biggest market. Fair enough in theory. But China is where theories go to die. Revived plans to link the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges will be a practical test.
把一種產品的價格乘以13億人,曾經讓看漲中國的投資者們興奮不已。當這種興奮退卻時,他們就會轉投股市。他們說,想像一下吧,假如上海A股市場對境外投資者開放會怎樣。將擁有13億客戶的企業的利潤乘以想要的本益比,你就得到了全世界最大的市場。理論上沒錯。但中國是一切理論的「終結者」。中國重啓的滬港兩地股市互聯互通的試點,將成爲一個試金石。