Sudden change of heart: NYSE backpedals on delisting Chinese telecom giants

In a sudden reversal, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said it will no longer delist China's three largest state-owned telecommunications corporations allegedly linked to the Chinese military.

In a statement, the world's biggest stock exchange said it dropped the plans after “further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities in connection with Office of Foreign Assets Control.”

The announcement comes four days after the NYSE said it would remove the shares of China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom Hong Kong that had been present on the US market for nearly two decades.

The US exchange had planned to delist all three companies as early as this week to comply with a US executive order banning investments in enterprises owned and controlled by the Chinese military.

Securities of all three firms shot up on the Hong Kong stock market after the latest announcement. China Unicom gained 8.5 percent, China Telecom rose by eight percent, while China Mobile jumped by seven percent.

The order, cited by the index provider and, was signed by US President Donald Trump in November. The document barred US investors from funding more than 30 Chinese firms it deemed “communist Chinese military companies.”

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