Chinese firms set aside US$2.7 billion for stock buy-backs as Trump’s tariffs roil markets

More than 100 companies have announced buy-back plans, including PetroChina, Midea Group and CATL

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A screen showing stock market movements in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province on April 7, 2025. Contrary to global conventions, China’s exchanges depict losses and declines in green, using the red colour to illustrate advances and gains. Photo: AFP.

Published: 7:30am, 11 Apr 2025Updated: 6:39pm, 11 Apr 2025

China’s publicly listed companies have unveiled at least 20 billion yuan (US$2.73 billion) in buy-backs this week, as they set aside resources to prop up their own stock during a global meltdown in equity markets triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war.

More than 100 companies have announced buy-backs, including China’s state oil company PetroChina and the world’s largest appliance maker Midea Group. Electric vehicle battery producer Contemporary Amperex Technology or CATL, which is said to be seeking about US$5 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong this quarter, has set aside as much as 8 billion yuan to support its shares, according to filings.

These 100 companies are joining several deep-pocketed state funds under the umbrella of the nation’s US$1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, as they buy back shares and increase their stakes to prop up prices and prevent a meltdown in the US$10 trillion onshore stock market.

China’s central bank said this week that it would put its financial muscle and relending facilities behind the government’s buy-backs. China Chengtong Holdings Group and China Reform Holdings Corp. said they had allocated 100 billion yuan from the 1.63 trillion yuan of state-owned capital to buy stocks.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 09, 2025. Photo: Getty Images via Agence France-Presse.

These buy-backs “can be effective in containing the spread of panic and reducing the stampede in the market,” said Xu Chi, an analyst at Zhongtai Securities in Shanghai. “Besides curbing short-term volatility, [the biggest] listed companies are also sending a message of confidence in their future earnings to quell any panic [about] their businesses.”