Major Chinese state-owned firms, including the country's oil giants, announced on Friday that they would apply for delisting their companies from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The decisions came amid Chinese upheavals over a U.S. law requiring American regulators to inspect audits of Chinese firms.
PetroChina, China Life Insurance, Sinopec and Aluminum Corp. of China said in separate statements that they would apply for delisting of their American Depository Shares from the NYSE.
Following the announcements, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said "the delisting decisions are made out of their business considerations."
"These companies are listed on multiple markets, and only a small portion of their securities are traded in the U.S. markets. The delisting plan will not jeopardize these companies' fund-raising ability through domestic and overseas capital markets," it added.
The U.S. Congress enacted laws requiring regulators to inspect the audits of all U.S.-listed companies, and China has refused to allow overseas regulators to inspect local accounting firms, invoking its state security laws to block U.S. regulators from conducting these inspections.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress previously set 2024 a deadline for Chinese companies that fail to comply to suspend trading on U.S. exchanges.
