The long-awaited trading link between the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges will open on December 5, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said, giving global investors greater access to Asia’s third-largest equity market. The new stock scheme will allow international investors to trade 881 Shenzhen-listed tech-heavy stocks, while investors on the Chinese mainland will be allowed to trade 417 Hong Kong stocks. It is similar to the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at a two-week high on November 25, partly aided by steady money inflows via the Shanghai-Hong Kong connect as the market sensed the approach of its sister link. Indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen both rose more than 0.6%. The launch of the scheme has been anticipated since the opening of the Shanghai-Hong Kong connect in November 2014 but the idea was set aside after the stock market crash in the summer of 2015 wiped out USD5 trillion worth of shares. The trading, clearing and other rules, as well as the daily quota mechanism and other regulatory and operational arrangements for the Shenzhen-Hong Kong link have been finalized. There will be no total quota for the new scheme, analysts said. The total quota of a combined CNY550 billion for the Shanghai-Hong Kong link was removed in August. Gao Ting, Chief China Strategist at UBS, predicts the total trading volume heading to Hong Kong at CNY160 billion through both links next year. For foreign investors, trading activity north to Shenzhen could surpass that to Shanghai, as they may favor Shenzhen’s tech-heavy shares that bring higher growth, the Shanghai Daily reports. The Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock market connect, like the one with Shanghai, has a daily quota of CNY13 billion for international investors buying A-shares in Shenzhen, while mainlanders can buy up to CNY10.5 billion per day worth of Hong Kong stocks.