Real value of stocks

The announcement by China's securities watchdog for raising the refinancing threshold for listed companies is more than welcome. By urging them to pay more dividends to shareholders, the move will help make listed companies more accountable and their stocks more attractive to Chinese investors.

Last Friday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a new administrative rule that for those listed companies scheduled to refinance on the market, the dividend they paid to shareholders in the recent three years should be no less than 30 percent of its distributed profits. The previous baseline was 20 percent.

For Chinese investors who have been hit hard by a 60-percent dive of the domestic stock market from its peak last October, the new rule may offer little immediate relief. Many of them had pinned high hopes on an Olympic rally to cut their losses. But the market disappointed their expectations in spite of the great joy the Beijing Olympic Games inspired across the country.