All stocks suspended on 1st day of launch of new stock exchange in China

BEIJING: All the stocks listed on ChiNext, the new Nasdaq-style market in China, were temporarily suspended on the first day the new exchange board was launched on Friday. Exchange authorities were forced to intervene as prices of all the listed shares showed wild fluctuations.

The launch of the much-awaited exchange board for small and medium industries had been postponed several times over the past two years as the government feared there would be wild movement in prices resulting in market instability. The fears proved true on the first day the exchange was launched at Shenzhen city, which borders Hong Kong.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange evoked special suspension rules within the first two hours of trading as all the 28 listed stocks were involved in surprising volatile trading.

The rules call for 30 minute suspension if any stock fluctuates beyond 20 percent from its opening price. If a stock fluctuates again beyond 50 percent of its opening price, it will be again suspended for 30 minutes.

All stocks reported rises from their IPO prices after trading began at 9:30 a.m. Friday. They included five stocks that soared more than 200 percent from their IPO prices in the morning session. Prices at the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.13 percent to close at 3,023.46 on Friday.

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the opening ceremony that the central bank will actively support ChiNext. LInk....