The New York Stock Exchange said late on Monday that it had reversed a decision to delist China’s three major state-run telecommunications companies.

The Big Board said it took the step after consulting with the US Treasury Department.

Last week, the exchange said it would stop the trading of shares in China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile by January 11 in response to a Trump administration executive order that blocked Americans from investing in companies tied to the Chinese military.

The statement did not give a reason for the decision, though it appeared that the executive order may not require the exchange to delist the companies. The exchange said that its regulatory department would continue to evaluate the applicability of the order to the telecommunications companies.

The delisting would have had little practical impact on the companies, which also have shares listed in Hong Kong and are state-owned. Still, the disappearance from the American exchange had hefty symbolic value for worsening economic ties between China and the United States.

Hong Kong-traded shares in the three phone carriers surged on Tuesday. China Telecom rose 3.4 per cent, China Mobile jumped 5.7 per cent and China Unicom surged 8.5 per cent. Shares in all three have fallen recently.

The Chinese government has accused Washington of misusing national security as an excuse to hamper competition and has warned that Trumps order would hurt US and other investors worldwide.