China’s regulators chime in on charm offensive to maintain market momentum as growth stalls

Name: SCMP
Telephone: +852-2680-8888

CSRC Chairman Wu Qing solicited feedback from financial specialists and media representatives, according to a readout on the watchdog agency’s website

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

The annual Financial Street Forum in Beijing on October 18, 2024. Photo: Xinhua.

Yulu Aoin Hong Kong,Yuke Xiein BeijingandYujie Xuein Hong Kong

Published: 7:47pm, 20 Oct 2024

China’s securities regulator is going on a charm offensive to avoid the stalling in what had been the world’s biggest stock market rally of 2024, after a slower third-quarter growth pace pushed the economy further from its annual growth target of around 5 per cent.

Wu Qing, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), solicited feedback from financial specialists and media representatives during the annual Financial Street Forum, according to a readout on the watchdog agency’s website on Sunday.

Financial-market reform “is a defining characteristic of China’s modernisation, and foreign investors are an important participant and builder of China’s capital markets,” Wu said during the forum on Friday. The CSRC welcomes “voices from the market,” financial experts, scholars and the media to supervise the regulator’s work, according to the readout on Sunday.

The CRSC will deepen the connectivity between domestic and international markets, expand the channels for overseas listings, and encourage more foreign institutions to invest and operate in China, he said.

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Chairman Wu Qing during a press conference in Beijing on September 24, 2024. Photo: Reuters.

China’s benchmark stock index has risen by almost 22 per cent since the government unleashed a barrage of policy “bazookas” in late September to inject some much-needed vitality into the stalling economy. Among the measures was a swap facility for brokers, fund managers and insurers to buy stocks, and a 300-billion yuan relending facility for banks to buy the shares of publicly traded companies.

Participants of the capital markets, where the CSI 300 index had soared by as much as 20 per cent within six trading days after the new policies, should “cherish” the momentum and push for further reforms, the CSRC said.