HONG KONG: China is scrambling to contain a stock market rout only two years after the previous rescue.
Beijing is dusting off the market support playbook it deployed in 2024. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is providing low-cost funding for corporate share buybacks and liquidity for institutional investors. The shadowy “national team” appears to have stepped up its operations, while regulators are again resorting to window guidance – informally instructing institutional investors and brokerages not to sell.
In October, China’s stock market suffered its worst monthly decline in more than a decade. The blue-chip CSI 300 Index has fallen into a bear market from its late-June peak, while Shanghai’s semiconductor-heavy SSE Science and Technology Innovation Board 50 Index, or Star 50, has plunged as much as 48 per cent.
THE BLAME GAME
So who’s been selling? The blame game has already begun.