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China Stock Turmoil 2015
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A man watches a board showing stock prices at a brokerage office in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

China’s central bank to fund margin finance agency in latest stock market bailout bid

In the latest effort to cope with the worst domestic stock market crisis in years, China's market regulator said on Sunday that it would allow the country’s central bank to provide liquidity support to the government-backed margin finance agency, China Securities Finance Corp. 

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement on its website that with the support of the People’s Bank of China, China Securities Finance could expand its business and continue to help the government to stabilise the stock market.

The statement did not elaborate on the possible size of central bank’s funding for CSFC or how long the measure would last.

The involvement of the central bank came just days after the securities regulator announced it would boost the capital base of China Securities Finance to 100 billion yuan (US$16 billion) from 24 billion yuan.

On Saturday, the Chinese government unveiled a package of new policies, including suspending new share issues and letting key domestic brokerages inject at least 120 billion yuan into the stock market via purchases of funds focusing on blue-chip stocks to boost market performance.

The benchmark Shanghai index has lost about 30 percent in three weeks. Chinese retail investors, who drive more than 80 percent of daily trading in domestic markets, have become frustrated about rapid losses in the market, fuelling government concern over the possibility of social unrest.  

A stock market crash could also damage the outlook for economic growth, especially at a time when the leadership is keen to transform the economy into one more driven by market forces.

Reasons for the cause of recent stock market crisis remain unclear, but analysts have widely blamed margin calls. State media have also warned some foreign banks with “suspicious purposes" to cause Chinese stock market instability.

 

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