Shanghai Stock Exchange pulls out all the stops to keep trading going as city government locks down Pudong area to contain Covid-19

Name: China’s Jilin province remains Covid-19 epicentre of country’s latest pandemic wave
Uploaded: 2022-03-28T10:30:28.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: China’s Jilin province remains Covid-19 epicentre of country’s latest pandemic wave

Hundreds of staff are working in a ‘closed loop’, essentially living in the office, to ensure trading continues after Pudong New Area went into lockdown

Other measures include virtual IPO ceremonies and fast-track approvals for bond issuance by pandemic-hit companies

Reading Time:2 minutes

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Pudong New Area, on the eastern bank of Shanghai’s Huangpu River, went into a four-day lockdown from 5am on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Daniel Ren

Published: 6:30pm, 28 Mar 2022

Shanghai’s stock exchange is going to extraordinary lengths to keep the bigger half of the world’s second-largest capital market ticking, locking technicians, compliance officers and back-office clerks in the building, as China’s premier commercial city goes into a rolling lockdown to contain a resurgent outbreak of Covid-19.

Hundreds of staff at the bourse are working in a “closed loop”, essentially living in the office, to ensure trading goes on as normal after the whole of Pudong New Area was shut down to halt the spread of the Omicron variant.

The biggest trading house of the mainland’s three stock exchanges, based in Pudong’s Lujiazui finance and trade zone, said it would be vetting initial public offering (IPO) applicants seeking to list on the technology-heavy Star Market, China’s answer to the Nasdaq.

It also said it would make better use of online communication tools with issuers, and hold IPO debut ceremonies virtually at the start of trading for newly listed companies.

02:23

China’s Jilin province remains Covid-19 epicentre of country’s latest pandemic wave

“The Shanghai Stock Exchange will make special arrangements to battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, optimising regulatory framework and improving services to support the real economy and invigorate the market,” it said in a statement on Sunday evening. “We will strive to maintain steady operations of the market.”

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