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China’s stock regulator promises to protect investor interests as the market falls to four-year low

Chairman Liu Shiyu has met hedge funds and retail investors on Sunday, in a rare move to calm market jitters

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CSRC chairman Liu Shiyu met investors after the sell-off in Chinese equities. Photo: Bloomberg
Zhang Shidongin Shanghai

China’s securities regulator said it had met investors after the nation’s stock market fell to its lowest level in almost four years last week, pledging its commitment to protect their interests and ensure a fair and transparent capital market.

In a rare move, Liu Shiyu, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, held a meeting with 15 hedge fund managers and retail investors on market reforms and stabilisation at a Beijing brokerage outlet of China Securities on Sunday, according to a statement posted on the regulator’s website.

Liu, who oversees the stock market with the world’s largest number of individual investors, said in the meeting the CSRC would always undertake the responsibility of protecting investors and make efforts to create a fair and transparent capital market. He stayed clear of any discussion on how to bolster the stock market.

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Under Liu’s charge, China’s stock market this year entered a bear market, ceded the title of the world’s second-largest market to Japan, and the benchmark gauge fell below the level in the aftermath of the 2015 crash that wiped off US$5 trillion.

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The investor attendants proposed market-boosting measures including elevating the strategic status of the stock market, deepening state-owned enterprise reforms, optimising trading systems and tax breaks for hedge funds, according to the statement.

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