NY Stock Exchange begins delisting securities of China telecom companies, following Trump's order

The New York Stock Exchange has began the process of delisting securities of three China telecom companies, following President Trump’s order last month barring U.S. investments in Chinese firms believed to be owned or controlled by the Chinese military.

The move will limit U.S. investors' access to such companies and follows global index providers MSCI Inc, S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell and Nasdaq deleting some Chinese companies from their indexes, according to Reuters.

The three companies delisted by the NYSE are China Telecom Corporation Limited, China Mobile Limited 0941.HK and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. 

The exchange said the companies were no longer suitable for listing as a result of the presidential order prohibits any transactions in securities "designed to provide investment exposure to such securities, of any Communist Chinese military company, by any United States person," the wire service also reports.

The Pentagon has so far designated such 35 companies, complying with a 1999 law mandating the Defense Department to compile a list of Chinese military companies.

China has condemned the ban.

The NYSE is scheduled to suspend trading in the stocks as early as Thursday.