BEIJING (AFP) - China will link up the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges on a trial basis as part of its financial sector reform, the official Xinhua news agency reported Thursday.

The move follows a similar scheme between the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses launched in November, which officials trumpeted as opening up China's closeted stock markets to the outside world.

The Shenzhen programme will be launched "at an appropriate time", Xinhua said, citing a government work report to be submitted to the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's communist-controlled legislature.