金融专业英语考试阅读指导(十七)

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Listed firms may be allowed to sell shares
$ G. C2 }' k2 N# P    The country's regulators will consider allowing listed firms to sell shares as a first step toward lifting its suspension on new IPOs in domestic markets, but no timetable has been set, domestic media reported Monday.　China is proceeding with a series of market reforms aimed at reviving its shares markets, which remain mired in a four-year slump.
    In mid-2005, China suspended new IPOs in domestic markets in an effort to prop up sagging stock prices, weighed down by investor concerns over the share-reform plan to sell more than US$250 billion in State-held shares.
$ W6 _. Y; e: Q3 P1 x    "We will look at allowing listed companies to sell shares before approving any new IPOs," the Financial News quoted Shang Fulin, the top securities regulator, as saying at a conference.
    Reforms in state-held shares need to be built upon solid capital markets, said Shang, adding that the last mile of reforms would be the most difficult.
, H1 K8 }2 a" U6 _; R* }    Last month, China scrapped capital gains taxes for foreign stock investors.
7 G& W% }: F2 P. V. g  F* r    The government is intensifying efforts to lure foreign cash into its main stock market, via a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor （QFII） scheme that lets overseas firms invest in primary stock and debt markets.
5 V: j( m; e/ m% q% p# z1 o* @    The index was Asia's worst performing major market benchmark stock index in both 2005 and 2004.
! r1 J8 j5 ]! x* y( K+ w    While trying to reform inefficient capital markets to give domestic firms another fund-raising option besides banks, China is also trying to enhance corporate transparency and boost profitability.
    Shang's comments come after a leading economic official said Saturday that efforts to revive its sickly stock markets are likely to work only if "poor quality" listed companies are eliminated from trading.
5 |3 X- s8 Y! W2 Q    "Raising the quality of China's listed companies is the only permanent cure that can ensure public investors' fundamental interests," said Cheng Siwei, a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress