China regulator tells banks to pause IPOs, FT reports

China's securities ​regulator has told investment banks to ‌pause ​initial public offerings and has suspended large share sales by existing shareholders until markets recover, The Financial Times ‌reported on Tuesday, citing three people with knowledge of the discussions.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission held meetings with investment banks and gave informal "window guidance" over the past few days, ‌the report added. Large sales by existing shareholders have also been temporarily suspended until ‌the markets have recovered, according to the report.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Chinese financial regulators did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comments.

The move follows a sharp selloff ⁠that ​saw the blue-chip CSI300 ⁠Index slumping 8.5% in October, its worst monthly performance in more than a decade. Persistent weakness in ⁠the world's second-largest economy, weighed down by frail consumption, a prolonged property debt crisis and a ​steep tech stock selloff, has sapped investor confidence.

Chinese regulators rolled out a ⁠handful of measures on Monday, from conducting swap operations to upgrading a lending facility for stock buybacks ⁠by ​listed companies, as part of efforts to stabilise struggling capital markets. The effort to steady its sliding stock market struggled for traction on Tuesday, with AI-related ⁠shares leading declines as investors judged the financial support measures insufficient.

China's blue-chip CSI300 Index ⁠and the benchmark Shanghai ⁠Composite Index both dropped more than 1% in early trade, before paring losses to 0.1% and 0.7%, respectively, by midday.