Nasdaq goes to Beijing to list Chinese companies

Mumbai: Nasdaq, the No. 2 US stock exchange, has opened an office in Beijing in a bid to step up efforts to attract more Chinese firms to list on the exchange.

The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc said having an office would also enable it to forge deeper ties with China''''s bourses and regulators.

Nasdaq trades in shares of 52 Chinese companies with a combined market capitalisation of $57 billion.

Nineteen of them have joined Nasdaq this year, compared with nine in 2006, and one more listing is expected by the end of 2007, Guang Xu, Nasdaq''''s managing director for Asia, said.

Nasdaq said the bourse itself would consider listing its shares in Shanghai if China changes its regulations to permit listings of foreign companies.

Nasdaq reached deals this year to take over the Philadelphia and Boston exchanges and to buy Nordic market operator OMX jointly with Borse Dubai.

Xu described the 2008 pipeline of initial public offerings of Chinese firms as strong, especially for energy-related companies, but declined to put a figure on it.

However, Nasdaq and other international markets are facing mounting competition as China is trying to build its own Nasdaq-style board.

China agreed late last year to let the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq open offices in Beijing as part of deals struck during the first round of a high-level "strategic economic dialogue" with the United States.

NYSE Euronext, parent of the New York Stock Exchange, meanwhile, said it would open its Beijing office on December 11, the eve of the next round of the strategic dialogue.

Stock exchanges around the world are trying to lure Chinese firms to list with them as investors seek to capitalise on the rapid growth of the world''''s fourth-largest economy.