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Beijing’s stock exchange is stopping major shareholders from selling stocks, Reuters reported.
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Sales are being blocked in a bid to sustain a market rally, sources told the news agency.
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The exchange’s flagship index is up 46% this month, powered higher by pro-market government measures.
The Beijing Stock Exchange is stopping big shareholders from selling stocks in a bid to sustain a market rally, Reuters reported.
Under Chinese law, investors with a stake of 5% or more in a listed company must make a public filing before they can sell their shares. The exchange has been rejecting such filings, the outlet reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.
It’s not clear how long the policy, which appears to be an attempt by the authorities to ensure a recent market rally doesn’t fade, will stay in effect, per Reuters.
The exchange’s flagship Beijing Stock Exchange 50 index has soared 46% this month, powered higher by the Chinese government rolling out a set of pro-market policies including stamp-duty cuts.
That rally has been a rare bright spot in a torrid 2023 for Chinese equities, which have struggled amid signs that the country’s long-awaited post-pandemic economic recovery is fizzling out. The CSI 300, which tracks the price of stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, has tumbled by almost 10% this year.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission, Beijing’s main stock-market watchdog, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
This wouldn’t be the first time this year that China’s government has turned to authoritarian measures in a bid to prop up equity prices.
Last week police arrested a man in the southwestern province of Sichuan for spreading rumors about the stock market’s struggles, the South China Morning Post reported.
Meanwhile, the government has instructed prominent economists not to discuss issues such as deflation and faltering growth, according to a Financial Times report from August, and has stopped publishing unflattering data that showed a massive surge in youth unemployment.
The Beijing Stock Exchange is the youngest of China’s three major exchanges. It was launched in 2021 to cater to smaller-cap companies and lists 232 stocks with a combined valuation of about $50 billion, according to data from Reuters.
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