ATTENTIVE TRADERS: Stock market investors check the big board on July 3 in a bourse in Shenyang (LI GANG)

After a nine-month suspension on all initial public offerings (IPOs), China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. (State Construction), the country's largest housing contractor, on July 22 began raising funds of up to 42.6 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) from the public domain. The initiative is the most ambitious in the world to commence in the last year and a half.

One month after China reopened its gate for public listing on June 18, some 11 companies were allowed to float their shares in the Chinese stock markets. More than 400 companies have submitted IPO applications to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), a watchdog organization for IPOs, indicating that public listings are gaining momentum.

Recovered confidence

After nose-diving for the better part of last year, the Chinese stock markets are making headway on a gradual basis. The IPO reopening will mean a lot for any continued progress, said Lu Lixin, a researcher at Cinda Securities Co. Ltd. To the economy's advantage, the reopening resumes financial functioning of the capital market, in addition to staying in line with the macro-economic control goal of "expanding domestic consumption and maintaining growth" and meeting Chinese companies' needs of direct financing.

In September 2008, the CSRC ceased public listing, stating that it would commence IPO mechanism reform. The decision led to a halt of the financing function of the capital market. And in the midst of the international financial crisis, when many companies had hoped to raise funds in the capital market by issuing shares, the IPO suspension temporarily put an end to their money-making recovery plan.