上交所擬規範上市公司停牌行爲

Authorities are introducing curbs on Shanghai-listed companies’ ability to halt trading of their own shares in moves aimed at preventing a repeat of actions during the summer crash — and which stand in stark contrast to easier-going rules in Hong Kong.

中國有關方面擬出臺新規限制在上海上市的公司停止自身股票交易的能力，此舉旨在防止今夏股市下滑期間出現的大面積停牌現象重演，並與香港的更寬鬆規則形成鮮明對比。

The Shanghai Stock Exchange plans to limit share suspensions due to asset restructuring to no longer than three months, with an additional two-month suspension permitted if circumstances warrant.

上海證券交易所(Shanghai Stock Exchange)計劃將資產重組所導致的停牌時期限制在不超過3個月，若情況需要，可再停牌2個月。

The draft rules come as the suspension of three mainland shipping groups in Hong Kong, for an expected state-sanctioned merger, passes that exact three-month mark without an update from the companies involved.

《關於進一步規範上市公司停復牌及相關信息披露的通知(徵求意見稿)》出爐之際，三家在香港上市的內地航運集團因預期將進行國家批准的合併而停牌超過3個月，但這些公司沒有披露最新情況。

Shanghai’s proposals, which are open for comment until Friday, will allow a further two-month suspension permitted if circumstances warrant. Suspensions will not, however, be allowed to last more than five months.

上海的《通知(徵求意見稿)》將公開徵求意見至本週五。它將允許在特殊情況下再停牌2個月。然而，停牌總長將不允許超過5個月。

The changes are aimed at stopping a repeat of early July when at the height of the Chinese stock market rout more than half of all listed companies suspended trading, purportedly due to “plans for major asset restructuring”. In reality, the suspensions were designed to prevent share price falls amid panic selling.

這些變化旨在防止今年7月初的情況重演，當時正值中國股市下滑進入最嚴重時期，逾一半上市公司以“計劃重大資產重組”爲由停牌。實際上，這些停牌行爲意在阻止股價在恐慌性拋售中進一步下跌。

In addition to trapping investors during tumultuous trading, the mass suspensions played havoc with exchange traded funds that track broad indices, causing big discrepancies between the funds and their underlying assets.

除了在交易動盪期間“套住”投資者以外，這種大面積停牌給跟蹤大盤指數的交易所交易基金(ETF)帶來嚴重混亂，造成ETF和其標的資產之間出現較大差異。

“A lot of companies chose to suspend trading and some of these gave reasons that were quite vague,” said Guo Yanhong, an analyst at Founder Securities in Beijing. “I suspect the senior management of a lot of these companies were also shareholders and worried about falling stock prices.”

“很多公司選擇了停牌，其中一些給出相當含糊的理由，”北京方正證券(Founder Securities)分析師郭豔紅表示。“我懷疑這些公司中很多公司的高層管理人員也是股東，他們擔心股價下跌。”

Mr Guo added that he believed the authorities also genuinely wanted to speed up mergers and restructuring.

郭豔紅補充說，他相信當局也真心希望加快兼併和重組。

Since the start of 2014, 13 per cent of Shanghai-listed companies that suspended trading in their shares citing asset restructuring did so for more than five months, the official China Securities News reported yesterday.

據官方的《中國證券報》昨日報道，自2014年初以來，在以資產重組爲由停牌的上海上市公司中，13%的公司停牌超過5個月。

The Hong Kong-listed shares of three mainland shipping companies — China Cosco Holdings, China Shipping Container Lines and China Shipping Development have been suspended since August 10 pending news expected to involve a merger.

與此同時，在香港上市的三家內地航運公司——中國遠洋(China Cosco Holdings)、中海集運(China Shipping Container Lines)和中海發展(China Shipping Development)——自8月10日停牌至今，等待一則預計涉及一宗合併交易的消息發佈。

Asian bourses including Hong Kong and its mainland counterparts have typically been more amenable to share suspensions than are western markets such as London and New York, where suspensions are minimal and very brief.

相比停牌很少且非常短暫的西方股市（如倫敦和紐約），亞洲股市（包括香港和中國內地股市）一般對停牌更爲寬容。

The trading halts are a source of frustration to investors who have called for regulators to allow some form of grey-market trading. Hong Kong has few hard and fast rules to limit the length of suspensions, and as of the end of October, $46bn of equity in Hong Kong had been frozen for more than three months, up from $12bn in April.

對投資者來說，停牌是一件令人不滿的事情，他們呼籲監管機構允許某種形式的灰色市場交易。香港在停牌期限方面沒有什麼剛性規定，截至10月底，香港總計有價值460億美元的股票被凍結超過3個月，高於4月份的120億美元。