BEIJING : China’s state fund Central Huijin Investment said late on Monday it had bought exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and would continue to do so, as Chinese stocks dropped to four-and-a-half-year lows.
The announcement came less than two weeks after Huijin started increasing its controlling stakes in China’s “Big Four” state banks, and followed a series of measures by Beijing to revive confidence in the country’s flagging stock markets.
Huijin, which makes equity investments on behalf of China’s central government, also bought ETFs during China’s market crash in 2015.
In a short statement on its website after the market close, Huijin said it bought ETFs on Monday, and “will continue to increase holdings in future,” without giving ETF details.
Several ETFs, including Huatai-PB CSI 300 ETF and E Fund CSI300 Index ETF saw a jump in volume during the final hour of trading on Monday.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index fell 1 per cent to its lowest closing level since February 2019, as global market jitters amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East compounded lingering worries about the health of China’s economy.
China has already rolled out a series of measures to support the stock market, including a stamp duty cut and restrictions on short-selling activities.
China’s central bank vowed over the weekend to prevent risk contagion in the stock, bond and foreign exchange markets, and to ensure the stable operation of financial markets.
(Reporting Ella Cao in Beijing and Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong; additional reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Susan Fenton)