Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Gradual effects expected on new rules

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-06 10:39

The latest regulations to improve China's stock market may not bring immediate cheer to the get-rich-quick investors who lost paper riches in the recent market adjustment. But long-term investors should feel encouraged by the securities regulators' ongoing efforts to improve the basic operation of the market.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) policies are targeted toward long-term stable growth of the speculation-ridden market.

As recently as Sunday, CSRC said that board directors and managers of listed companies are forbidden to speculate on the stock they hold in the companies they serve. They cannot sell their stock ahead of any freeze period or break the ceiling on the amount of stock they sell at one time.

Last Thursday, CSRC issued a new unified rule tightening the disclosure of information by listed companies. The commission included the possibility of additional requirements for the more volatile financial and property sectors.

These moves will make the market more transparent and aid honest value-based investors.

The government has also encouraged large high-quality companies listed outside the mainland to list on the local exchanges.

Meanwhile, to prevent liquidity-caused market bubbles, both the State assets regulators and the central bank have warned that money should not be speculatively invested in the stock market.

All these moves represent an ongoing series of rehabilitating measures. Over the past years, the measures have included crackdowns on dishonest brokers and, most importantly, the reform that floated the previously non-tradable shares held by the State.

Those policies combine to promote a value-based investment strategy and point to the sustainable growth of the market.

They are in line with the professed philosophy of CSRC, according to its chairman, Shang Fulin, that market mechanisms, not the index itself, would be the central point of regulation.

Few would argue that the young Chinese market still has many loopholes. But the quality of its listed companies is improving and regulation is being strengthened. These developments may improve the outlook of dispirited investors.