Integrating A- and B-Share Markets in China: The Effects of Regulatory Policy Changes on Market Efficiency

We investigate the effectiveness of two recent regulatory policy changes on market efficiency in the Chinese A- and B-share markets. Overall, the opening of the B-share market to domestic Chinese investors and the limited opening of the A-share market to foreign investors increase market efficiency. The opening of the B-share market significantly reduces the price differential between A- and B-shares. Furthermore, there is no longer feedback in returns between the two markets in recent years. Our results provide evidence that there is no detrimental effect to market efficiency by integrating Chinese investors to international markets and foreign investors to the Chinese stock markets.