BEIJING: China stocks posted their third straight day of decline on Thursday, as fears of fresh moves by regulators to reduce leverage in stock trading dampened risk appetite.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 1.8 percent, to 0.00, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.8 percent, to 4,112.21 points.
Leaks of a set of policy recommendations – including capping the size of margin financing, and limiting the type of stocks investors can buy with borrowed money – started swirling widely on the Internet and in social media late on Wednesday.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) clarified on Thursday morning that these were merely expert suggestions presented during a seminar, not regulators’ requirements. But the statement was later deleted from the securities watchdog’s official microblogging account weibo, for unknown reasons.
