"There hasn't been a final decision on expanding the qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) quota to US$30 billion," Guo Song, a director at the capital markets division of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange's capital account management department, said.

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"China does not have the fundamental conditions to lift it by a big amount in the short term."

Foreign institutions invest in China's securities markets under the qualified foreign institutional investor program.

The combined investment quota for institutions in the program is US$10 billion, but that ceiling has almost been reached. China agreed in principle at trade talks with the United States last month to raise it to US$30 billion, but did not give a timetable.

Guo said there was already a large amount of QFII funds in China's markets. "More inflows into the Chinese markets would not be a good thing for the markets," he said.

Authorities have been struggling to reduce excess liquidity in the booming stock and money markets.

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