Deadline set for grey market margin financing

    CHINA’S securities regulators have urged brokerages to clean up “grey market” margin lending by the end of September, China Business News reported yesterday.

    The crackdown targets both new and existing businesses, but for some brokerages whose clients have borrowed massively in the grey market, the deadline can be pushed back to the end of October, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. Margin loans are money investors borrow to buy stocks and regulators have warned that any such loans extended in the unregulated grey market, outside the brokerage system, are illegal.

    Ex-Hanlong head pleads guilty to insider trading

    THE former head of China’s Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd. pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in Australia, Australia’s securities watchdog said yesterday.

    Xiao Hui, also known as Steven Xiao, pleaded guilty to two combined charges of insider trading involving 65 illegal trades related to Sundance Resources Ltd. and Bannerman Resources Ltd. in July 2011, when he was Hanlong Mining’s managing director. Hanlong made takeover offers for Sundance and Bannerman in 2011. Xiao also admitted to a third set of insider trading offences related to 37 illegal trades carried out in 2011.

    Shanghai Pudong plans dollar bond offering

    SHANGHAI Pudong Development Bank Co. plans a U.S. dollar-denominated bond offering via its Hong Kong branch, according to a mandate announcement seen yesterday.

    The Shanghai-listed lender’s planned bond will be issued under its newly established US$5 billion medium-term note program, according to the document. The bank has hired nine banks as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the bond sale, the document said. The bank will meet bond investors in London, Singapore and Hong Kong from Sept. 4, the document said.

    Stocks pare losses in wobbly session

    CHINA’S stocks managed to bounce off from steep losses and ended yesterday almost flat as fresh supportive measures from brokerages eased investor fears that the government may be intensifying a crackdown on illegal margin financing.

    The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.11 percent to 3,365.83, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.20 percent, to 3,160.17 points. Both indices tumbled more than 4 percent in morning trading.