THE Shanghai Stock Exchange has reiterated plans to bolster its fledgling bourse by attracting heavyweight Chinese companies to list at home this year, State press reported yesterday.

“We will lure more funds into the market and bolster institutional participation, which will help lay the capital base for a blue-chip market,” the Shanghai Daily said, citing a statement from the exchange.

It said it will draw companies it considers to be “the backbone of the (Chinese) economy” such as now Hong Kong-listed heavyweights China Mobile and PetroChina, the report said.

This year Hong Kong-listed China Life Insurance was the highest profile company to come home, while others like China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the country’s largest offshore oil producer, have recently expressed interest in listing on the domestic market.

Fu Chengyu, president of CNOOC, was quoted by Xinhua Monday as saying that the company would “return to the A-share market considering the market’s promising future.”

(SD-Agencies)