INVESTORS snapped up Shanghai stocks yesterday on the debut of an exchange link that allows Hong Kong and Shanghai investors to trade shares on each other’s bourses, a ground-breaking step in opening up the US$4.2 trillion stock market.

Northbound trade — investors with Hong Kong accounts buying mainland shares — far outstripped trade from mainland investors in the opposite direction, with the daily limit for Shanghai stocks exhausted after sales worth 13 billion yuan (US$2.12 billion) by 1:57pm.

On the other hand, Chinese mainland investors used just around 1.7 billion yuan of the 10.5 billion yuan daily quota they have to invest in the Hong Kong market.