THE Shenzhen Stock Exchange will include small-cap ChiNext shares in its planned link with the Hong Kong stock exchange, Liu Fuzhong, vice director of strategy and international relations at the Shenzhen exchange, said Tuesday.

    The Shenzhen exchange is conducting internal tests on link infrastructure, though the program’s start date is still uncertain, Liu said.

    Investors have been clamoring for details on the Shenzhen connect amid concern that a US$5 trillion rout in mainland shares earlier this year would derail plans to expand the existing cross-market program with Shanghai.

    The ChiNext index, used by domestic investors as a proxy for “new economy” companies in the technology and service industries, has jumped 87 percent this year and is valued at levels more than four times higher than the Shanghai Composite Index.

    “The Shenzhen link will include the stocks that represent the new economy, from Shenzhen’s main board, ChiNext and small and medium-size enterprise boards,” Liu said. The link “is certain to happen and go on. What’s uncertain is the timing,” he said.

    The specific list of companies included in the connect are still under discussion, Liu said. He declined to comment on whether the link will allow one-way or two-way flows with Hong Kong.

    Policymakers have given few details about the timing of the program since China’s stock market selloff started in June. The link may begin in the second half of the year, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said May 28.

    Hong Kong’s stock exchange operator had also outlined a similar time frame, while a person familiar with the matter said in May that China’s State Council had signed off on the plan.

    In a sign of how keenly investors are watching for news on the link, the stock market surged last week after the central bank published five-month-old comments from governor Zhou Xiaochuan that said the program would start in 2015. The central bank later said via text message that the comments were taken from a speech May 27, before the crash in Chinese shares made a delay of the program more likely.

    Officials have been reviewing plans to expand the exchange link to Shenzhen after starting the stock connect program between Shanghai and Hong Kong in November 2014.

    MSCI Inc. has said that giving foreigners more access to Shenzhen is key to getting China’s stocks included in global benchmark indices. (SD-Agencies)