CHINA’S securities regulator announced Friday more plans for the pilot program to connect the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.

    Supporting policy documents and business rules will be released soon, with two network tests scheduled for the end of August and mid-September, said Zhang Xiaojun, spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

    The Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect is a stock exchange connectivity mechanism jointly announced by the CSRC and Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission on April 10 this year.

    Investors will be allowed to trade on each other’s market. Previous reports said that preparation is expected to last about six months before the program is formally launched later this year.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission released draft rules in late April for public comments, and published a set of core rules in June.

    As of Friday, 90 brokerages — 91 percent of all eligible brokerages from the mainland — had applied for the pilot program.

    A total of 215 from Hong Kong have also applied, 43 percent of those qualified.

    (Xinhua)