Margin trading measures not stock market crackdown: regulator

New measures unveiled Friday to promote the balanced development of margin trading were not meant to suppress the stock market, an official said Saturday.

Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and two industry associations issued a notice to encourage institutions to lend stocks for short selling and expand the number of stocks available for investors to sell short.

In the past five years, margin buying experienced rapid development, while short selling with borrowed stocks saw much slower growth, the notice said.

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) spokesman Deng Ke said the notice aims to promote the balanced development of transactions in both directions of margin trading.

Taking the rules for a crackdown on the stock market is a misinterpretation, Deng said, adding that short selling by borrowing stocks is a mature mechanism commonly adopted overseas that can reduce fluctuations, discover reasonable prices and hedge against market risks.

Deng added that unveiling these measures was an implementation of a guideline promulgated in 2014 for further promoting healthy development of the capital market, which requires the improvement of market stabilization mechanisms and enrichment of risk management tools.

On Friday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 2.2 percent to finish at 4,287.3 points, a record high in seven years.

At a press conference on Friday, Deng warned new investors about the risks of the stock market and asked them to make full preparations and invest rationally. Endi