China has banned firms flush with new share sale proceeds from investing the money in securities in the latest regulatory move aimed at cooling stock market fever, the government said Tuesday.

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"Companies should not directly or indirectly use newly acquired funds to buy stocks or derivatives or convertible company bonds," the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on its website.

Firms must use the proceeds from share sales for the intended purposes, according to the statement.

If the enterprises intend to spend more than 10 percent of the raised capital on items that the share sale was not originally aimed at funding, they must get board approval and arrange an online shareholder vote, it said.

The tougher approach follows on from an announcement in February by the regulator that it would tighten rules against insider trading by executives of state-owned listed firms.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh funds have flooded into the nation's stock market over the past year, much of it from cash-rich state enterprises looking for somewhere to put their money.

The speculative activity has driven equity prices up by around 150 percent over the last 15 months.

The frenzy has prompted officials to repeatedly warn that a major bubble had formed and that investors, especially inexperienced retail punters, stood to lose everything if the markets crashed.

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