Securities regulator shuts down 16% of trading accounts

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) closed over 20 million dormant A-share stock accounts from the country's trading system since Monday, Xinhua reported (in Chinese). The closed accounts were those with less than RMB100 (US$13) in cash balance, no securities balance and had made no transactions for three years. The closed accounts comprise nearly one-sixth of the total. Newly opened trading accounts have risen sharply since May. The measure was viewed as improving the A-share market's operating efficiency. A small number of account holders have since applied to have their accounts reactivated.