Investors reassured by regulator's clarification on IPOs

Stock markets in the Chinese mainland saw a mild improvement on Tuesday as the securities regulator offered a clearer picture of its IPO plans.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index inched up by 2.94 points or 0.15 percent to 2,008.12 points on Tuesday.

The Shenzhen Component Index was flat, down by 0.31 points or 0.00 percent to close at 7,151.18 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Tuesday was 119.53 billion yuan ($19.16 billion), slightly up from Monday's 113.54 billion yuan. Xiao Gang, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said late on Monday that around 100 companies would be allowed to go public this year starting from June, with the number of IPOs to be equally distributed every month, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The number is less than one-third of the 365 companies that have disclosed their pre-listing documents since the CSRC announced a batch of pre-listing documents for 28 companies on April 19. Analysts said the number that will get listed this year is much lower than the market had expected.

The news came as a relief for investors, who were worried that a large number of new IPOs this year could divert funds from existing stocks. The concerns have weighed particularly heavily on ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups listed in Shenzhen.

Technology stocks, many of which are listed on ChiNext, gained strongly on Tuesday. Sichuan Troy Information Technology Co jumped by 10 percent to 35.81 yuan and Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp rose by 4.43 percent to 38.70 yuan. ChiNext gained by 16.28 points or 1.33 percent to 1,244.65 points on Tuesday.

The technology sector also enjoyed the news of China's ban on usage of Microsoft's Windows 8 for official computers on Tuesday. China National Software and Service Co soared by the daily limit of 10 percent to 28.63 yuan.