In an abrupt turnabout, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) decided not to delist the shares of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom. A stoppage of trading, initially announced on December 31, was planned for early next week.
The exchange said in a statement issued late yesterday that after further consultation with regulatory authorities, they will not execute the delisting of the Chinese-based telecoms but will “continue to evaluate the applicability of an executive order” on the companies’ listing status.
The executive order was issued by President Trump in November. In his order he cited the Department of Defense as saying the companies were controlled by the Chinese military. The China Securities Regulatory Commission followed the President’s action by saying the delisting was politically driven.
Analysts have said, since the stocks were lightly traded on the NYSE as opposed to their activity on the Hong Kong Exchange, the delisting was largely a symbolic gesture.
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