Soon after disembarking at Hong Kong's train station, Chinese private investor Feng was opening a stock trading account at a nearby brokerage, hoping to evade tighter restrictions on capital leaving the country.Beijing introduced new rules this month cracking down on overseas investments, citing national security concerns and cranking up curbs on buying US shares that were imposed on Chinese investors in May.
Market regulators have classified cross-border stock trading by some online brokers as "illegal" and have meted out penalties, hoping to stem what analysts say are record capital outflows in recent years.
But mainland investors are still streaming to Hong Kong, where regulations are relatively free, hoping to trade US stocks.
Feng, who arrived on an overnight train from eastern China, opened three accounts in one day, telling AFP she did not want to miss the chance to invest in US firms.
Although US markets have been volatile recently, "they're still much better than the Chinese stock market", she said.
