China’s securities regulator has told investment banks to pause initial public offerings and temporarily suspended large share sales by existing shareholders until markets recover, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the discussions.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission held meetings with investment banks in recent days and issued informal “window guidance,” according to the report. Reuters said it could not independently verify the information. Chinese financial regulators did not immediately respond to its request for comment.
The reported steps follow a sharp market decline: the blue-chip CSI300 Index fell 8.5% in October, its steepest monthly drop in more than a decade. Investor confidence has also been weakened by fragile consumption, a prolonged property debt crisis and a sharp selloff in technology stocks, Reuters reported.
Chinese regulators announced measures on Monday that included swap operations and an upgrade to a lending facility for listed companies’ share buybacks. The measures had yet to restore confidence on Tuesday, with AI-related shares leading declines as investors considered the support insufficient.
The CSI300 and Shanghai Composite both fell more than 1% in early trading before trimming losses by midday. They were down 0.1% and 0.7%, respectively.
Sources: Investing.com News.