Listings tightening enters next stage

By March 29, as many as 124 companies waiting for IPOs had terminated their applications, while 765 chose to continue waiting for the regulator's approval of their listing plans.

Of the 124 companies, 104 were reportedly planning to list on the country's Growth Enterprise Board.

But those companies withdrew their applications mainly because they feared that they could not pass the market regulator's increased scrutiny, analysts said.

As to when there will be new IPOs, Mao Changqing, a senior analyst with Citic Securities, said he expects the ban to be lifted in the second quarter of the year, before the end of June.

Meanwhile, the reopening of the IPOs will not affect China's stock market as much as some people fear, Mao said.

China saw a temporary halt of IPOs six times in its history, and in the six weeks following the six restarts of IPOs, the stock market rose and fell three times.

There is a lot of uncertainty when the restart of IPOs is drawing near. But once it happens, all the pressure will be dissipated, Mao added.

"My opinion is that if the restart of IPOs comes with a reform of the issuing practices, it will be a good thing for China's stock market in the long term," Mao said.

huangtiantian@chinadaily.com.cn