(Bloomberg) -- China rolled out a basket of measures to stabilize its stock markets, including plans to boost the amount pension can invest in the nation’s listed companies, as it combats uncertainty in a second Donald Trump presidency.
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The central government issued a directive to “steady the stock market, and clear bottlenecks for the introduction of mid-long term capital,” according to a notice posted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Wednesday. CSRC Chairman Wu Qing, Deputy Finance Minister Liao Min and central bank official Zou Lan will hold a briefing at 9:00 am on Thursday.
The securities watchdog also said the country will guide big state-owned insurers to raise A-share investment and prompt listed companies to increase their share repurchases.
“I think this is a long term positive, similar to what Japan did with the Government Pension Investment Fund during the Abenomics with a shift towards a higher domestic equities allocation,” said Kevin Net, head of Asian equities at la Financière de l’Echiquier. “Not sure this will have much of an impact in the short term though.”
The part of increasing share buybacks and dividends is more significant but we would like to get more details on how they plan to do that, he said.
Chinese stocks kicked off 2025 with their worst start in nine years, after a bruising year dented by a meltdown in the property market and weak consumer sentiment. Analysts have expected the Chinese government to unleash more tools to combat the turmoil brought on by Trump’s second-term as US President.
Trump widened his tariff threats to include China on his second day back in office. Chinese stocks fell Wednesday after Trump’s latest comments, with the onshore benchmark CSI 300 Index posting its first decline in five days and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index the worst performer in Asia.
While the 10% level is lower than the potential levies of 60% on Chinese products that Trump floated during his election campaign, investors are bracing for more volatility.
Here are more policies announced on Wednesday:
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Mutual fund houses will be encouraged to issue more equity-focused fund products
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Institutions including mutual funds, insurers, pensions, as well as wealth management units at banks will be allowed to participate in listed firms’ share placements as strategic investors
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Authorities will guide listed firms to tap more into the central bank’s relending tool to boost share repurchases and stake increases
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The government will extend the horizon of state-backed insurers’ performance evaluation mechanism and lower the weighting of annual return on assets