China stocks turn positive on government moves

Chinese stocks stormed into positive territory in volatile trading Thursday as Beijing launched new measures to halt a dramatic sell-off that has also hurt regional share markets and commodity prices.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 5.30 percent, or 185.95 points, to 3,693.14, recovering from a 3.81 percent fall in the morning.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, added 3.67 percent, or 69.22 points, to 1,953.67.

"Investor confidence is recovering," Zhang Gang, an analyst from Central China Securities, told AFP.

"Government support policies have shifted from saving the blue-chips and large cap stocks to focusing on growth stocks and smaller shares, which boosted trading volume and liquidity," he said.

The gains came after China moved to stop major shareholders from selling shares and launched a probe into short-selling in a bid to calm markets.

The Shanghai index had fallen more than 30 percent since a spectacular bull run peaked on June 12, driven lower by restrictions on margin trading, concerns about overvaluations and "panic" selling by the retail investors that make up the vast majority of the market.

Hong Kong stocks recorded their biggest single-day loss for more than six years on Wednesday as the market turmoil spread across the region, but they were up more than three percent by the break Thursday.

Tokyo stocks were down 0.69 percent at the break, recouping earlier heavy falls.

US shares retreated overnight on worries about how the stock market rout could affect the Chinese economy -- the world's second-largest and a key driver of global growth -- and worries of a messy Greek exit from the eurozone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 1.47 percent.

Late Wednesday, China's market regulator barred major shareholders and executives of listed companies from selling their stocks for the next six months in order to "maintain stability," the latest government action to stem the slide in equities.

The ban applies to "big" shareholders -- defined as those with stakes of more than five percent -- company directors, board supervisors and senior executives, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said.

Police and security regulators then launched a joint probe Thursday into "vicious short-selling" on the country's stock markets, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Short-selling is the selling of stock that is not actually held, in anticipation of a future fall in prices.

More than 1,400 companies have also been suspended from trading on China's sharemarkets as of Thursday, representing around 50 percent of listed stocks, according to Bloomberg. The move temporarily averts further falls in their prices, but seizes up the markets.