China markets may be swamped

Regulators are considering suspending or slowing down initial public offerings over concerns that the young mainland markets are swamped. The move follows an announcement by Air China that it would cut the size of its Shanghai IPO by 39% to 1.64 billion A-shares bringing the value of the offering to US$576 million. "Basically there is too much supply and not enough money," one source told the South China Morning Post. "There is a proposal on the table for a one-month breathing period." Slowdowns or suspensions of new IPOs by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) would not likely be made public, the newspaper said, to protect investor confidence. A year-long ban on new IPOs was lifted in May. That suspension was not announced for months after it was imposed in 2005 and followed a slump in the market to its lowest levels in eight years.