Photographer: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg
Photographer: Michael Nagle / Bloomberg
The The New York Stock Exchange has said it will no longer withdraw from China’s three largest state-owned telecommunications companies, with a plan threatening to increase tensions between the world’s largest economies.
The NYSE spin-off came just four days after the stock market announced shares of China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. removed to comply with a U.S. executive order. The NYSE quoted ‘consultation with relevant regulators’ late Monday in a brief statement announcing the turnaround.
Shares of China Mobile, China Telecom en Unicom relies on the latest development and increases by more than 6% in trade in Hong Kong. Calls and emails to the companies were not returned immediately on Tuesday.
On New Year’s Eve, the NYSE said it would delist the companies to comply with a November order from US President Donald Trump banning US investments in Chinese companies owned or under the army. It was the first time an American stock exchange had announced plans to remove a Chinese company due to the increasing geopolitical tension between the two superpowers.
The move to delist the shares has raised concerns about Chinese and US companies. The former have been turning to the U.S. stock market for capital and international prestige for more than two decades, earning at least $ 144 billion from some of the world’s largest investors. Wall Street banks are particularly eager to reduce tensions after being given unprecedented space to work in China last year.
(Background updates)