Shanghai's HK bourse 'connect' leaves small investors high and dry

Shanghai

WHEN the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges "connect" on Monday, it will open multibillion-dollar channels for investors to play both markets, but some Chinese punters say it looks more like a bad trade. Overseas investment houses are salivating at the prospect of greater access to the Shanghai bourse, and the companies of the world's second-largest economy.

But most of China's more than 175 million stock investors are individuals, accounting for an estimated 80 per cent of trading on …