Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), on Sunday vowed to deepen reform and boost regulation to promote a stable and healthy development of the capital market.

The CSRC would rationally balance the market supply and demand, and regulate the pace of fund-raising, Shang told an interior meeting in Beijing.

The stock regulator would encourage and steer funds into the market for long-term investment and gradually improve the inner market stabilizing mechanism.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index have fallen 54 percent from its all time high in mid October 2007. The steep decline came amid fears that the tightening measures would erode corporate profits and the equities supply would overwhelm demand.

Analysts said the regulator has been delaying approvals of initial public offerings over the past couple of months to stabilize market that was hard-hit by weak investor sentiment.

Shang noted the CSRC would boost cooperation with the prosecutors on crackdown on market manipulation, irregular information disclosure, and false information and rumors distributed to manipulate stock prices.

It would also cooperate with other financial regulators to closely watch the impacts of the domestic and overseas economic operation and the global financial market on the domestic capital market.

Shang said that during the process of market correction, some people deliberately spread rumors that disrupted market orders and increased volatility.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2008)