Mainland, HK to crack down on market manipulation

    MAINLAND and Hong Kong regulators are paying high attention to various signs of cross-market manipulations and will work closely to crack down on such illegal activities, the mainland’s securities watchdog said Friday.

    The statement, posted on the official microblog of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), comes as China will launch the Shenzhen-Hong Kong connect program as soon as this month. The regulator said malpractices employed by market manipulators include using high-leveraged structured products, opening multiple overseas accounts, or misusing high-frequency trading technologies.

    Nine initial public offerings get approval

    THE securities regulator has approved nine initial public offerings, which will raise up to 4.5 billion yuan (US$666.33 million) in total.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a microblog post late Friday that three companies would be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, three would list on the small and medium enterprise board of the Shenzhen bourse and the remaining three would be floated on the growth enterprise board of ChiNext.

    Regulators to ramp up risk monitoring in futures

    REGULATORS will step up risk monitoring in agricultural futures to ward off excessive speculation and price manipulation, and are studying ways to deregulate the sector and open it to foreign investment, a senior market regulator said Saturday.

    Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said China would encourage fundraising by futures brokerages via listings in domestic and overseas stock markets, as well as on China’s New Third Board, the over-the-counter equity market.

    Financing through OTC derivatives banned

    THE China Securities Regulatory Commission has banned the use of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as a financing channel, in a fresh move to restrict risky shadow banking businesses, according to a CSRC notice and confirmed by two sources.

    The regulator has also urged brokerages to strengthen risk control over OTC derivatives and barred securities firms from facilitating transactions that dodge regulatory oversight.