China-based education stocks rocked on worries over new PRC regulations

Following those reports, the top-10 biggest premarket decliners were littered with the U.S.-listed stocks of China-based education companies.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc.’s stock EDU, -57.73% led the pack, plunging 67% ahead of the open toward a six-year low, on premarket leading volume of 139.2 million shares.

The company said it’s policy is not to comment on market speculation, but issued a statement regarding reports from both English and Chinese language media outlets that PRC regulators were considering new regulations: “The regulations have not been published, and the company has not received official notification of the regulations.”

Gaotu Techedu Inc.’s stock GOTU, -55.84% was the second-biggest decliner and third-most active ahead of the open, as it plummeted 63% on 12.4 million shares. The company issued the identical statement as New Oriental Education, saying it “has not received official notification of the regulations.”

Shares of TAL Education Group TAL, -58.14% were the second-most active with 29.2 million shares traded, and tumbled 60% to be the third-biggest decliner.

Elsewhere, shares of 17 Education & Technology Group Inc. YQ, -39.35% dove 40%, China Online Education Group COE, -39.37% dropped 31%, Youdao Inc. DAO, -40.29% sank 30%, RISE Education Cayman Ltd. REDU, -29.96% dropped 29% and Zhangmen Education Inc. ZME, -36.79% fell 27%. Bright Scholar Education Holdings Ltd.’s stock BEDU, -15.65% shed 14%.

China Online Education, 17 Education & Technology and Zhangmen Education have issued identical statements as New Oriental Education and Gaotu Techedu regarding the media speculation.

The stocks’ selloff comes as the iShares MSCI China exchange-traded fund MCHI, -3.96% declined 2.7% premarket while futures ES00, +0.43% for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.49% rose 0.4%.