Beijing replaces head of China Securities Regulatory Commission during stock market slump
BEIJING (AP) — Beijing on Wednesday replaced the head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in an apparent effort to restore confidence in the stock market following major losses in domestic share prices.
A brief statement from the official Xinhua News Agency said Wu Qing, a banking industry veteran and former vice mayor of the financial hub of Shanghai, was taking the Communist Party and government positions formerly held by Yi Huiman.
Chinese stocks sank Monday to 5-year lows despite a pledge by market regulators to crack down on stock price manipulation and “malicious short selling.” The markets in Shanghai and its smaller partner in Shenzhen near Hong Kong have languished on heavy selling of property shares, which are undergoing major uncertainty with a plunge in the real estate market.
Top Chinese shares fell by 11.4% last year, while Hong Kong's index sank by nearly 14%. The ailing economy prompted thousands of people to vent their frustrations on the U.S. Embassy's social media site by adding comments about the stock market's woes to a seemingly unrelated post about protection of giraffes, reflecting the narrow scope for expression in China's Communist Party-controlled media environment.
Major players in the housing and construction field that fed China's dynamic growth over recent decades have accumulated massive debts, making them unable to deliver apartments to buyers who have already paid for them with their lifesavings, as well as to repay banks and investors.
The International Monetary Fund has forecast that China's economy will expand 4.6% this year, down from 5.2% in 2023. It noted that housing starts had fallen more than 60% from pre-pandemic levels after a crackdown on excessive borrowing that began in 2020.
That’s a pace “only seen in the...