Reminder: Hong Kong reopens as mainland China markets and Stock Connect stay shut until October 8

Hong Kong's stock market reopens on Friday, October 2, after closing on Thursday for National Day, but mainland China's markets remain shut for the rest of the week-long holiday and will not resume trading until Thursday, October 8. The Hong Kong exchange trades at its usual hours on Friday, 09:30 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 16:00 local time, and again on October 5, 6 and 7. Those four sessions will run without Stock Connect, the program linking the mainland and Hong Kong stock markets. HKEX's Stock Connect calendar shows Northbound and Southbound trading suspended from October 1 to 7, as the link only operates when both markets are open, with normal operation resuming on October 8. That leaves China-focused and dual-listed shares in Hong Kong trading without mainland participation, which may mean thinner, more offshore-driven liquidity. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are closed for the full seven days. The Shanghai Composite ended Wednesday, the last session before the break, up circa 0.3% at around 3,840. Futures and gold markets in Shanghai are also closed. The Shanghai Futures Exchange, the China Financial Futures Exchange and the Shanghai Gold Exchange reopen on October 8 and will stay shut on Saturday, October 10, a make-up working day for offices, since exchanges do not trade on weekends. The Shanghai Futures Exchange will resume night trading on the evening of October 8. With onshore markets closed, the offshore yuan carries price discovery with less depth than usual, and traders lose Chinese futures price signals for the week, as I noted in my earlier piece. Any news during the holiday will be priced offshore first, raising the risk of catch-up moves when mainland markets reopen on October 8. The scale of the People's Bank of China's liquidity operations around the holiday will also be watched for signs of how funding conditions look when markets return. This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.