China securities regulator approves two new IPOs

After about three weeks of not taking initial public offering (IPO) proposals, the official Xinhua news agency reports that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has approved two applications for IPOs.

The temporary suspension of IPO reviews came amid concerns that demand for IPOs on the stock exchanges has weakened due to shares flooding the market after the government lifted a one-year ban on issuing new shares in May 2006. Analysts predict that future listings of small and medium-sized companies will account for most newly-audited IPOs, so the stock composite index will not be greatly affected