New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- WHEN YOU suck on a TastySounds lollipop, something funny happens in your head. As well as the flavour on your tongue, you hear music in your ear. Vibrations travel up your jawbone, creating the sensation of sound only you can hear. The result is disorientating. The primary sense is of sweetness. The secondary sense is a burst of inner music.

Something similar is going on in Hong Kong's stock market, where Amos Food, the maker of TastySounds lollipops and other sweets, plans one day to list. The "primary" market for initial public offerings (IPOs) is performing sweetly. But in the secondary market, where existing shares are traded, the music has fallen flat. The Hang Seng index of the Chinese territory's big firms ha...