China puts brakes on new listings

CHINA says it will likely put off new stock listings this year to stem the slide in share prices. According to a spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission quoted in the official press, a significant portion of the $600 million in new issues approved for domestic investors this year could be delayed into 1995 to bolster falling stock prices.

This year's quota of new offerings was scheduled to be the same as 1993. In 1992, the nascent stock exchanges were hit with a flood of new listings valued at $1.5 billion.

Falling stock prices have stirred resentment among small investors who dominate markets in Shanghai and Shenzen and triggered debate over a planned third market. ``Theoretically, any solid exchange should be able to withstand the influx and withdrawal of capital in order to be mature,'' says Zhang Yi, one of an elite corps of brokers on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. ``But with prices falling, Shanghai and Shenzhen can't take it.''