No plan for same-day trading, regulator says

    CHINA’S top securities regulator Xiao Gang said Saturday the country is not planning to re-instate same-day “T+0” trading for A shares, Shanghai Securities News reported.

    The re-introduction of the rule would help protect investors by allowing them to quickly exit falling stocks, thereby hedging investments, but is also seen as a move that could cause volatility. In January, China approved trials of “T+0” trading and options trading on certain exchange-traded funds. There has been speculation in domestic media that the government was planning to re-instate “T+0” on the A-share market.

    Unprofitable firms to get nod for IPO

    CHINA is revising its securities law to allow unprofitable companies to sell shares publicly, domestic media quoted the country’s top securities regulator Xiao Gang as saying Friday.

    Currently, companies that apply for initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Chinese mainland must have a track record of being profitable, forcing firms such as JD.com Inc. to list abroad. Xiao, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that unprofitable companies were not necessarily bad companies, and the job of judging whether they could make profit in the future should be left to the market.

    GF Securities to seek HK listing approval

    GF Securities Co. is planning to seek approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange for a US$1 billion initial public offering (IPO), people familiar with the situation said Friday.

    The Shenzhen-listed brokerage firm said Friday the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved its plan to issue up to 1.7 billion shares in a Hong Kong listing. The planned listing is subject to approval from Hong Kong stock exchange.

    Sinopec completes stake sale to diversify ownership

    CHINA’S top oil refiner Sinopec said Friday that 25 companies have paid to buy stakes in the energy giant as part of an effort to diversify State company ownership.

    The completion of stake subscription is a concrete step toward a final mix-ownership of Sinopec’s lucrative oil sales arm. Friday’s announcement showed the 25 partners have paid 105.04 billion yuan (US$17.1 billion) to 107.09 billion yuan agreed in a previous deal to Sinopec’s sales subsidiary. One of the investors failed to fully pay due to a lack of sufficient capital.