THE securities regulator approved 30 initial public offerings (IPOs) late Thursday, a move that could cool a stock market rally that has seen the benchmark blue-chip index surge 13 percent since the start of this year.

    The number of IPOs approved jumped from 20 in January, and 24 each in February and March, sending out the message that regulators intend to accelerate the pace of IPOs as part of their efforts to cool the red-hot market, analysts said.

    As many as 28 among the 30 published their share issue prospectuses Friday to launch the IPOs over the next two weeks, based on filings to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

    Investors in China typically show strong interest in new share issues and subscriptions to IPOs typically lock up huge amounts of cash for a few days and divert funds from existing shares, cooling the secondary market.

    China Securities Journal estimated Friday that the latest batch of IPOs could tie up as much as 3.7 trillion yuan (US$597 billion) in subscription funds for a short period over the next two weeks.

    China’s blue-chip CSI300 index has surged since the second half of last year as the government talks up the market to support corporate fundraising, while economic reforms add to enthusiasm for hot stocks.

    Shenzhen-based Securities Times reported Friday that around 1 trillion yuan in fresh funds flowed into the stock market in the first quarter of this year alone. (SD-Agencies)