SHANGHAI: China's securities regulator said late on Sunday it will step up curbs on short-selling activities, and will tighten supervision of illegal share reductions by listed companies' major shareholders.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said it made the statement in response to social media reports attributing recent market weakness to a jump in short-selling activities.
The Shanghai Composite Index touched a two-month low last week, recording five consecutive weeks of declines.
The CSRC said there had been increased short-selling in certain stocks due to portfolio adjustment in benchmark indexes, but overall short-selling activities had declined.
Outstanding short-selling via so-called securities re-lending business totalled 34 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) on Friday, down 61% from levels on Feb. 6, when regulators published fresh curbs on such a business, the CSRC said.
The strict restrictions are still in place and the CSRC said it will "step up counter-cyclical adjustments" on short-selling activities.
In addition, the CSRC said it will severely punish major shareholders and other investors who illegally sell shares in listed companies via securities lending activities. It didn't say what these punishments might be.