Photo: Xinhua

Chinese mainland shares finished higher on the last trading day of 2019, with the flagship Shanghai Composite Index up 0.33 percent to consolidate its 2019 gains at 3,050.12 points. 

For the whole of 2019, the Shanghai index soared over 22 percent, while the Shenzhen Component Index and the ChiNext index both surged by about 44 percent.

The readings that put A shares among the world's best-performing in 2019 are supposed to blow the horn for US stocks to reverse losses during Monday.

Looking ahead, the benchmark Shanghai index, which has yet to be half of its historic high of 6,124 points hit back in October 2007, still has tremendous room to move up, buoyed by the nation's undaunted efforts to open its market more extensively to foreign investors. China's new foreign investment law will come into force on New Year's Day falling on Wednesday, truly creating a level playing field for foreign investors. This, adding to the removal of foreign shareholding limits on future firms also starting on Wednesday, is expected to push mainland shares onto the most-favored items on the shopping list of global investors.

From a longer-term perspective, US stocks that have defied market doubts to keep reaching new heights would be under greater pressure from growing interest in A shares. 

In a sign, the northbound capital into the mainland stock market via trading connects linking Hong Kong and the two bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen booked net inflows of about 500 million yuan ($71.84 million) on the last trading day of the year, the 31st trading day in a row with net inflows.

Global Times