U.S.-Listed Chinese Stocks Gain on WSJ Report U.S.-China Nearing Audit Agreement

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According to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday, the U.S. and China are close to an arrangement that would permit American accounting regulators to travel to Hong Kong to inspect the audit records of Chinese companies listed in New York.

The news has resulted in U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) +8.6%, Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) +8.5%, JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) +10.6%, and NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) +4.3%, rallying in the early part of Thursday’s session.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said regulators in Beijing are arranging for U.S.-listed Chinese companies and their accounting firms to transfer audit paperwork and other data from mainland China to Hong Kong.

U.S. regulators would then travel to Hong Kong city to perform on-site inspections of the records. According to WSJ sources, the China Securities Regulatory Commission recently told some accounting corporations about the plan.

However, they added that an agreement will only be reached if U.S. regulators have full access to the audit paperwork.