Leading global investment bank UBS AG has refuted the allegation
by a mainland newspaper that it had unduly profited from its role
as a sponsor of PetroChina's 66.8 billion yuan A-share IPO in
November.
The 21st Century Business Herald carried a story earlier
this week alleging that UBS' trading of PetroChina's H shares on
the Hong Kong stock exchange had contributed to the slide in the
mainland company's A shares since their debut on the Shanghai Stock
Exchange on November 5.
The story, citing an unnamed official from the issuance
examination committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission
(CSRC), said both the issuer and the underwriter of the PetroChina
stock should take responsibility for not being able to stabilize
the share's trading price.
It said as many as 10 companies controlled by UBS AG had
participated in jointly trading and manipulating PetroChina's H
shares before the oil company issued its A-share prospectus.
Some other mainland publications have since printed similar
versions of the story.
The price of PetroChina's A share has dropped an aggregate 28.5
percent to 31.39 yuan apiece from 43.96 yuan despite occasional
rebounds. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has dropped a
total of 5.7 percent, or 325.5 points, in the same period.
Though neither the CSRC nor the Shanghai Stock Exchange
commented on it, the report has become a hot topic in the
market.
Regulators and stock analysts have noted the anomalous dual
listing arrangement, resulting in wide price gaps between H and A
shares of mainland enterprises. The case of PetroChina is of
particular significance because of the sheer size of the company.
As a constituent stock in the benchmark index, PetroChina's share
price movements have a dominant influence on market sentiment.
The index yesterday rose 75.54 points, or 1.44 percent, to the
one-month high of 5308.89, with 588 of 873 stocks ending higher
than the previous day. Total turnover increased 19.7 percent from
the previous trading day to 149 billion yuan.
PetroChina A shares dropped slightly to 31.39 yuan apiece while
its H shares shed 0.7 percent to HK$14.04.
Telecommunication shares were the major contributor to
yesterday's rally. The recovery of financial and property shares
also helped push up the benchmark index.
(China Daily December 28, 2007)
