The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) yesterday said it approved the New York Stock Exchange Group (NYSE), the world's largest bourse, to set up a representative office in the country.

The NYSE thus became the first foreign stock exchange to get the government's go-ahead to establish such a presence.

The move is seen as fulfillment of one of China's commitments in the first round of the Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialog held in December, when China promised to allow foreign exchanges to set up offices in the country soon.

Overseas exchanges will be allowed to promote their organizations and conduct research through their offices, according to a rule launched by the CSRC earlier in May.

The NYSE Group will first set up its representative office in Beijing. Seven mainland companies have listed on its main board so far this year.

Rival NASDAQ said yesterday that it had submitted an application in June to the securities regulator to set up a Beijing office.

Xu Guangxun, chief representative of NASDAQ in China, said the bourse hopes to get the regulator's approval soon.

NASDAQ has attracted 14 mainland companies to list on the bourse since the beginning of 2007; and the tech-heavy bourse recently launched a NASDAQ Portal system, a fully Web-based platform for trading of 144A issues, a type of securities traded in the private placement market.