China Telecom will be deregistered from the New York Stock Exchange.
Photo:
Qilai Shen / Bloomberg News
The New York Stock Exchange will continue to eliminate three Chinese telecommunications companies targeted by an executive order from President Trump, reversing the course again, after the NYSE said earlier this week that it would not write them off.
The NYSE said Wednesday that it is trading US-listed shares of China Mobile Ltd.
CHL -4.68%
, China Telecom Body.
NOT -3.92%
and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.
CHU -4.23%
would be suspended Monday at 4 a.m. ET. Mr. Trump’s order seeks to ban securities transactions of companies that the administration says have links to the Chinese military.
The NYSE said its latest action came after it received “new specific guidance” on Tuesday from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which listed the three companies’ US deposit receipts as being covered by Mr. Trump’s order. The NYSE statement also mentioned that companies could challenge the decision to delist.
Wednesday’s reversal is likely to raise further questions about the stock market’s management of the three Chinese stocks. Last week, the NYSE said it would eliminate the three companies in order to comply with Mr. Trump’s order, only to reverse the course on Monday and say it would not write them off. One person familiar with the matter said the NYSE backed down because of the ambiguity as to whether the three companies were covered by the order. The new orientation of the Treasury Department seems to have solved the problem.
The NYSE backpedal has drawn criticism from the Trump administration and supporters of a hard line against Beijing. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called on NYSE President Stacey Cunningham to object to the NYSE flip-flop.
Write to Alexander Osipovich at [email protected]
Copyright © 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8