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CSRC denies rumors over B-share reform

(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-20 14:17

The authorities do not have a concrete plan or timetable for reforming the system of foreign-currency B shares earmarked for foreign investors, domestic media reported yesterday, denying a rumor that swept the market Monday.

The Shanghai Securities News and the China Securities Journal, the country's two major financial newspapers, quoted sources in the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and elsewhere as saying the authorities intended eventually to enact the reform, but had no specific plan at present.

B shares, which can be bought and sold by Chinese citizens and overseas investors, are traded in US dollars in Shanghai and Hong Kong dollars in Shenzhen. A shares are denominated in yuan and can be traded by domestic investors and select foreign institutional investors.

On Monday, a CSRC official said that the commission had no plans to make any announcement on B shares. Shanghai's B-share index jumped 9.65 percent Monday, its biggest rise in more than four years, on talk that the authorities were preparing to combine B shares with A shares.

According to the rumors, the reform might be announced around the weeklong holiday at the start of October, when some major policy announcements have been made in the past.

The Shanghai Securities News said that while the authorities had formed a body to discuss reform of the B-share system, it had not conducted a working meeting or prepared a draft proposal. Some sources said the authorities would not act on B shares until they had completed reform of the system of State holdings of nontradable shares. That reform is scheduled to be largely completed by the end of this year.