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Chinese authorities have unveiled fresh measures aimed at propping up investor confidence in the country’s stock market.
The main securities regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said it would introduce a number of measures aimed making it easier to trade.
These include cuts in the cost of trading, via a reduction in the handling fees charged by brokers, as well as a relaxation of the rules governing share buybacks – making it easier for companies to buy back their shares.
The regulator indicated it is also looking into extending trading hours for the country’s stock and bond markets and a possible cut in stamp duty on share trades.
The measures follow sharp reverses this month in both stock and bond markets amid a weakening of confidence among investors.
The CSI 300 index of large cap stocks has fallen by nearly 6% during the last fortnight and is showing a loss for 2023 so far while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index, which is full of Chinese stocks, has this week suffered its biggest weekly fall in two months and is now in bear market territory (in other words it is down by more than a fifth from its most recent peak).
This loss of confidence reflects a number of factors – most of which are bound up in China’s deteriorating economic outlook.
It emerged last week that the world’s second largest economy has lurched into deflation, the phenomenon in which prices consistently fall, depressing spending by households and businesses.
Growth is faltering, with activity depressed in both services and manufacturing, while China’s big exporters are under pressure amid weakening demand from the…
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