SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges recently held meetings with foreign institutions, both bourses said, assuring investors that they would continue to open up China’s capital markets.
The Shanghai stock exchange said in a post on its website late on Sunday that China’s economy was supported by solid fundamentals and has shown resilience in a complex international environment.
In a separate statement on Sunday, the Shenzhen stock exchange said it has listened to foreign institutions’ opinions and suggestions regarding China’s stock market.
The meetings come amid fresh volatility in Chinese stocks in the first trading days of 2025 on worries that threatened U.S. tariffs would heap more pressure on the sluggish economy.
The blue-chip CSI 300 Index slumped 2.9% on the first trading day of the year in its worst start to a new year since 2016, and ended the week down more than 5%, as optimism over Beijing’s policy supports waned further.
In another sign of weakening risk appetite, safe-haven assets continued the rally into the new year, with yields on long-dated Chinese government bonds plunging to fresh lows.
Chinese authorities have introduced various support measures since September, including swap and relending schemes totalling 800 billion yuan, to shore up investor confidence and put a floor under stocks.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference in December highlighted stabilising the stock and property markets as the main priorities for 2025.
That helped the country’s stocks register a 14.7% gain last year to end an unprecedented three-year decline.
“Policymakers’ ‘pain threshold’ regarding growth and asset prices may have been reached,” analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note on Monday. “But policy delivery is necessary to drive equity gains in 2025.”
(Reporting by Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sam Holmes)
