PBOC renews pledge to provide more funds for stock market boost; shares rise

    chinese currencies, yuan

    China’s central bank, the PBOC, on Thursday renewed its pledge to provide more funds to state-owned China Securities Finance Corp (CSF) so it could provide more margin loans to brokers, according to Xinhua news agency.

    PBOC has provided sufficient loans to the CSF and even allowed it to offer short-term bonds to replenish its funds, Xinhua said.

    The CSF is providing 21 Chinese brokerages with a 260 billion ($42 billion) funds that they could use to support the equities market, the report said.

    Aside from providing funds into the market, the government recently banned large shareholders of listed firms from selling their holdings, a move that has been criticized by several offshore investors.

    The recent measures helped boost the market Thursday morning. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.3% at the midday break, while the CSI300 index was up 2.4%, according to Reuters.

    In a separate report, Xinhua said the CSF has expanded its share purchases to include more small-and-medium-sized listed firms. In previous sessions, the buying has been focused on blue-chips.

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