BEIJINGSHANGHAI, Feb 19 Reuters China39;s securities watchdog said it held a series of seminars on Sunday and Monday with market participants who proposed tighter scrutiny of company listings and trading behaviour as part of efforts to revive market confidence.

The meetings were led by the watchdog39;s newlyinstalled chairman Wu Qing and held immediately after the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, reflecting the urgency to stabilize a market that dropped to fiveyear lows early this month.

Participants, including small investors, listed companies, money managers and accounting firms, said regulators should tighten screws on initial public offerings and weed out listed companies that do not qualify.

They also proposed a fairer trading mechanism and harsher punishment for law breakers, the China Securities Regulatory Commission CSRC said in a statement.

The watchdog said it would treat all proposals seriously and implement feasible ones immediately, reiterating its intention to resolutely maintain market stability and control market risks.

Confidence is more precious than gold, the official China Securities Journal said in an editorial on Tuesday.

Improved communication with the market can help rebuild confidence, and we believe that careful listening is a good start.

Wu, nicknamed the broker butcher after an earlier regulatory stint, was appointed CSRC chairman on February 7. He replaced Yi Huiman, who had failed to arrest share price slides despite a slew of…