BEIJING - CHINA'S securities regulator has asked listed companies to detail their holdings of foreign assets in their annual reports, to reflect potential losses suffered abroad during the global financial crisis.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, in a statement published on its website on Sunday, said listed firms should pay particular attention to devaluation of their financial assets, including derivatives, during the slump in world markets.

They must clarify the yuan value of their foreign-currency financial assets as well as provisions that they have made for losses on such holdings, it said.

Some Chinese companies suffered big losses as markets have tumbled in the second half of this year. In October, Ping An Insurance said it was booking a loss of about 15.7 billion yuan (S$3.3 billion) on its investment in troubled Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis NV .

The regulator said on Sunday that listed companies should describe the impact of movements in currencies and input prices, as well as fluctuations in domestic and foreign markets, on their initial profit estimates and revenue projections.

Listed Chinese firms are expected to publish their annual reports for 2008 from next month through the end of April. -- THOMSON REUTERS