SHANGHAI/BEIJING, July 20 (Reuters) - China's securities watchdog will meet market participants on Monday to discuss market stability, official media said, as state-backed investors bought shares in an effort to stem a rapid slide in prices.
The move follows a rout that wiped out 10 trillion yuan ($1.48 trillion) worth of China market capitalisation over the past two weeks. Two state-owned firms said over the weekend they had deployed roughly 60 billion yuan to buy stocks.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has invited market participants to a meeting on Monday to listen to their proposals on how to promote stable and healthy development of the market, the official Securities Times reported.
The CSRC will hold seminars with representatives from brokerages, fund management firms and listed companies in the coming days to collect their opinions for policy-making to promote market stability, the official China Securities Journal said.
China's stock market tumbled more than 5% last week as chipmaker CXMT's $8.6 billion IPO stirred liquidity concerns, while a global sell-off in chip stocks and renewed conflicts in the Middle East also dampened risk appetite.
Selling was especially savage in tech stocks, with Shanghai's STAR Market plunging roughly 25% from its July 1 peak.
China Reform Holdings Corp, owned by China's central government, said late on Sunday that it had spent 50 billion yuan buying stocks to stabilise the market and will continue to increase equity holdings.
The company said it "is unwaveringly confident in the outlook for China's capital markets, and will resolutely support tech innovation and high-quality growth of state-owned companies."
China Chengtong Holdings Group said in a separate statement that it had increased stock holdings worth nearly 10 billion yuan, vowing to "maintain capital markets stability with full force."
($1 = 6.7760 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
Source: Reuters