Insider trading, fake disclosures targeted in crackdown by China’s stock market regulator
- Regulator warns of heightened scrutiny of corporate disclosures after recent slew of cases including Kangmei Pharmaceutical overstating cash position
China’s securities watchdog said it will be on the lookout for insider trading, stock manipulation and other misconduct as it tightens its scrutiny of corporate disclosures as part of a drive to bolster confidence in the world’s second-largest stock market.
The warning to publicly traded companies came after a slew of recent cases in which companies were found to have tampered with balance sheets, weighing on already shaky sentiment in the market amid slowing growth and the escalating trade war with the US. Last month drug maker Kangmei Pharmaceutical and Kangde Xin Composite Material Group were both found to have overstated their cash flows, prompting regulatory investigation.
The Shanghai Composite Index is now down 14 per cent from an April high, having surged as much as 31 per cent this year. It dropped 1.2 per cent to 2,827.80 at the close on Thursday.
Reviving investors’ confidence and arresting a decline in stocks is vital to plans by the regulator to successfully launch a new stand-alone board to host China’s home-grown technology companies.
Yi Huiman, who took the helm of the securities regulator in January, made a rare appearance on China Central Television’s news programme last week, openly talking up the nation’s stock market.