China regulator vows to steady stocks after $1.5 trillion rout

China’s top securities regulator moved quickly to talk down a sharp equity selloff, with China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing telling investor representatives in Beijing that the watchdog would make “all efforts” to keep markets operating smoothly after two weeks of heavy losses.[0]

The trigger was a rout that erased about 10 trillion yuan, or roughly $1.48 trillion, in Chinese market value over the past two weeks.[0] Wu said the CSRC would press ahead with risk prevention, tighter supervision and protection of “open, fair and just” market order, while also seeking better listed-company transparency and stronger investor safeguards.scmp

Markets took some comfort from the intervention. The CSI 300 rose 1.53% Monday and the Shanghai Composite added 0.85%, though the tech-heavy STAR Composite fell 2.28%, underscoring that the damage was not evenly repaired.businesstimes Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.4%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 2.8%, as the pledge helped steady sentiment beyond the mainland market.thestandard

The meeting also showed where investors want Beijing to focus next: more counter-cyclical support, channels to pull long-term capital into equities, tougher penalties for securities crimes, bigger dividends and tighter oversight of quant trading and AI use in markets.rthk

Policy support is already moving beyond words. State-linked companies including CRRC and SDIC Power announced steps such as buybacks, shareholder stake increases and dividends, while fund manager Bosera said it would put 50 million yuan into its own equity funds.[0] SCMP also reported that two central government-backed conglomerates had spent about 60 billion yuan buying onshore stocks, part of a coordinated effort to stem the decline.rthk

The market reaction gives Beijing a short-term win, but the harder test is whether official buying and regulatory reassurance can restore confidence without making investors more dependent on rescue signals whenever volatility returns.thestandard