China's securities regulator has announced several measures aimed at reviving the country’s slumping stock market.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has unveiled steps that involve cutting trading costs, supporting share buybacks, and encouraging long-term investments to support a stock market that is currently at a nine-month low.
Other measures laid out by the regulator include boosting the development of equity funds, studying plans to extend trading hours, and improving the attractiveness of publicly listed companies based in China.
Analysts were quick to criticize the proposed measures, saying they will do little to boost confidence in equities if the Chinese economy remains stalled.
China's leaders vowed earlier this summer to reinvigorate the stock market, which has been reeling as the country's economic recovery falters and the property market teeters under mounting debt loads.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said it would speed up the registration of index funds, broaden funds' access to derivatives, and encourage fund managers to make countercyclical investment decisions.
Listed companies are also being encouraged to buyback shares and offer investors steady streams of dividend payments.
The regulator also vowed to balance development of primary and secondary markets by keeping up a reasonable pace of initial public offerings (IPOs) moving forward.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange, China’s main bourse, is flat on the year having risen only 0.50% since the start of January.
