China mulls hiking investment quota for foreigners

(AP) The head of China's securities regulator says Beijing is considering substantially raising the quota that foreign institutions are allowed to invest in the country's stock markets.

Guo Shuqing said at a conference on Monday that there was room to raise the limit by at least 10 times, nine times.

He said that money invested through the quota system for foreign investors accounted for only 1.5 to 1.6 percent of China's total stock market. Guo said regulators wanted to make it easier for outsiders to issue or trade securities on Chinese markets.

Stock markets in China are largely out of bounds for foreign investors because of tight capital controls.

Guo is chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.