Shares of RYB Education Inc plunged nearly 53 percent with company suffering a loss of nearly $250 million in market value overnight at New York Stock Exchange, Sina Finance reported on Friday.
RYB Education's American Depositary Shares, each of which represents one class A ordinary share, closed at $7.83, down $8.82 with 52.97 percent drop on Thursday.
The current market cap of the US-listed preschool education company is $224 million, according to the report.
Hong Kong stocks' preschool education sector also witnessed setback and stocks of Tianli Education International Holdings Limited, 21st Century Education and Yuhua Education opened 32.2, 25.2 and 16.9 percent lower, respectively,wallstreetcn.com said.
A-shares online education sector fell sharply as well and some preschool concept stocks dropped to their daily limits, wallstreetcn.com said.
The falling stock prices have been attributed to Chinese government's latest move on deepening reform of preschool education to prohibit listing of private kindergartens and curb excessive profit-seeking behaviors in the development of private kindergartens.
RYB Education held an emergency meeting to discuss strategic adjustments and said whether to withdraw capital for kindergarten listing depends on further policy arrangements, financial news outlet Yicai reported.
RYB Education announced its support to the government's new policies on preschool education reform, which were issued on Thursday, saying the company will study the policies carefully and believe they will lead China's preschool education to a healthier and more sustainable future.
Hodgen Technology said the new measures on establishing a fully covered safety risk prevention and control system for kindergartens and strengthening safety supervision will provide good opportunities for the development of their preschool education business, wallstreetcn.com reported.