Listed firms do their bit to prop up market
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Investors monitor share prices at a securities brokerage in Shanghai on Monday. The Shanghai Composite Index opened 7.8 percent higher, but ended the day up only 2.4 percent, at 3,775.91 points, in response to unprecedented rescue measures announced over the weekend. [Photo/China Daily] |
While the government takes measures to halt the slide in the nation's stock market, listed companies are also taking steps to restore investor confidence.
Experts said the purpose of government intervention should be to stabilize the market and a critical determinant of further intervention depends on whether the volatility on the small and medium-sized enterprise board and ChiNext board will continue to unsettle the rest of the market.
But the government should let the market decide the level of the rebound, they said.
China Vanke Co, the largest residential homebuilder, approved a plan to repurchase as much as 10 billion yuan ($1.61 billion) of its Shenzhen-listed A shares at as much as 13.70 yuan each, which was the closing price on Friday, according to a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday.
Led by Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, 50 listed companies on the small and medium-sized enterprise board in Shenzhen vowed on Saturday to take positive measures of stock repurchase, shareholding increase and no reduction in shareholdings for the moment.
Zhang Jindong, chairman of Suning, promised that the company would not reduce shareholding within three years. As non-tradable shares of Suning's major shareholders worth around 29.7 billion yuan would become tradable on Friday, Zhang's promise meant that they would hold them for a period of three more years.
Vanke rose 8.61 percent to 14.88 yuan on Monday and Suning rose 2.76 percent to 13.04 yuan. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,775.91 points, rising 2.41 percent compared with Friday, while the Shenzhen Component Index fell 1.39 percent to 12,075.77.
"For those companies with a strong balance sheet and good fundamentals, it is a critical moment to signal to the market their strengths by buying back their own shares," said Victoria Mio, co-head of Robeco Asia Pacific Equities and its chief investment officer in China.
"It shows that the companies care about investors' interests, and have the financial resources to do so," Mio said.
Wang Chaoyong, chairman and chief executive officer of ChinaEquity Group, said the moves by these listed companies were a demonstration of confidence both in their fundamentals and the nation's economic transition.
"A stock index rise or decline is not the most important factor, but choosing a good stock matters. Although stocks with good business performance and reasonable valuation declined with the index, their rebound would be the fastest," said Wang.
The moves by listed companies followed hot on the heels of steps taken by the government over the weekend to shore up market confidence.
The regulatory authorities suspended 28 initial public offerings, while 21 major brokerages pledged to spend no less than 120 billion yuan on blue chip-based exchange-traded funds.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, would offer liquidity support in various forms to China Securities Finance Corp, a State-owned enterprise specializing in providing margin loan services to brokerages, to help stabilize the market.
Hong Hao, managing director and chief strategist at BOCOM International Holdings Co, said: "Government intervention is necessary to halt market slide, or it may lead to wider systemic risks, but how to intervene is an important issue."
According to Hong, the key purpose of government intervention should be stabilizing the market and improving regulatory measures. But the government should let the market decide the level of the stock market rebound.
Mio said the government has been decisive in announcing a series of measures to stabilize the market and prevent an imminent meltdown.
"The support measures seem to be effective in stabilizing the blue chips. The market may still need some time to digest the margin call sell-off from the non-brokerage channels, and retail investors' confidence may have been temporarily shattered, so volatility is likely to remain over the next few weeks," said Mio.
"However, we do not believe it is the start of a bear market in A shares. The forces driving the bull market－monetary easing, structural reforms, and the household asset shift from property to equity－will continue to pull the market upward."
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