Securities regulators hope to open a new stock market in the
first half of the year aimed at growth enterprises, chairman Shang
Fulin of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in
Beijing on Thursday.
His comment was the first official confirmation of a time frame
for the establishment of the long-anticipated second board
market.
At the national work conference on securities and futures
supervision that ended on Thursday, he said that China would strive
to diversify its financial markets to satisfy a variety of needs.
Although he didn't elaborate, previous media reports have said that
the exchange was intended to be a NADSAQ-like growth enterprise
board to help small start-ups, especially high-growth, high-tech
firms, to raise funds.
Listing thresholds will be lower than the main board.
Nearly 200 companies were listed on the Shenzhen small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) board, whose market capitalization
surpassed 883.6 billion yuan (US$120 billion) as of December 11,
more than four times the year-earlier level, when only 101
companies were listed.
In 2007 alone, 93 companies were listed on this board, with the
debut of Ningbo Bank yielding the largest proceeds of 4.14 billion
yuan.
Apart from the new stock market, Shang said that China would
also strive to boost the expansion of bond markets this year by
speeding up approval for corporate bond issues, enriching bond
products and strengthening creditor protection.
Another task facing the CSRC is to achieve the smooth operation
of stock index futures and to gradually strengthen the futures
market by facilitating the coordinated growth of financial and
commodity futures product, he said.
On January 9, gold futures made a strong debut in Shanghai,
raising the city's prospects of becoming another key player in the
world gold market. Gold was the fifth new futures products approved
last year after zinc, rapeseed oil, polyethylene and palm oil.
Shang said that the CSRC had started investor training for
futures and would optimize operating systems and supervision. New
futures products are being studied.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2008)
