BEIJING - China's securities regulator on Friday denied rumors that the country's initial public offering (IPO) market has been shut down.

The clarification came after the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in late March suggested companies planning an IPO should "choose a reasonable timing" for IPO application.

The CSRC urged the companies to go to the New Third Board, a national share transfer system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to transfer shares and raise funds, or seek IPOs overseas.

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"This is just a suggestion by the CSRC in response to questions raised by the market. This is neither mandatory nor does it mean the IPO application window is shut down," said Zhang Xiaojun, spokesman of CSRC.

The suggestions were made in March because, in the words of the regulator, "a large number of IPO applications were still pending approval and new applicants would have to wait for a relatively long period."

New rules governing IPOs would also result in stricter requirements for information disclosure and more responsibilities for the issuer and sponsor, the CSRC said about two weeks ago.

Zhang said the CSRC was just reminding issuers and sponsors of the current special circumstances and suggesting they choose the right equity trading market.

"This would help avoid worsening the already crowded IPO channel. For those companies who have decided to file an IPO application, they should time it reasonably to avoid extra cost and burden on themselves."

China imposed a moratorium on IPOs in October 2012 as the country worked to reform a market featuring a pricing system that had led to consistently excessive offering prices.

The authorities reopened the market for IPOs at the end of 2013.