China securities regulator to lift ban on IPOs

China’s securities regulator will lift the suspension on initial public offerings that has been in place since July by the end of this year, after it “improves” relevant policies.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said 28 IPOs that were approved but suspended could complete by the end of the year.

The ban was imposed in the wake of a huge drop in Chinese stocks markets in the summer and Friday’s announcement comes amid a stabilisation in the region’s markets.

David Morrison, market analyst at SpreadCo, said: “It’s good to hear that China’s regulators are making an effort to restore confidence in the market structure.

“But it tells us something that the first major move to normalise conditions after the summer’s tumult is to restore money-making IPOs rather than resume full trading in all stocks and rescind the ban on short-selling. Doing the latter would really show us if the recent recovery in the Shanghai Composite is built on a solid foundation or not.”