SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - China's securities regulator will prioritise the stability of the country's capital markets, state media reported on Monday, as it flagged growing risks from increasingly interconnected global markets.
Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said at a financial forum in Beijing that the regulator would closely track domestic and overseas markets, strengthen risk assessment and its reserve of policy tools, and improve mechanisms to stabilise the market.
Global markets were showing markedly greater interconnection, with rising volatility and correlation across equity, bond and currency markets, Wu said, adding that the risk of cross-border, cross-market and cross-sector contagion warranted close vigilance.
He said the CSRC would step up efforts to guard against risks from new types of business and remain highly vigilant against emerging risks such as offshore leveraged products linked to individual onshore stocks.
China's benchmark CSI300 Index has fallen for 10 straight weeks since early August, hovering near its lowest level in more than a year, as a global AI selloff dampened sentiment and interrupted a slow bull run that began two years ago.
Wu also said the regulator would implement reform measures for the STAR Market and ChiNext board and further improve mechanisms for identifying and screening technology companies, as part of efforts to advance reform of the multi-tiered market.
The tech-focused STAR50 Index has tumbled nearly 40% from its peak in late June, wiping out all of its gains for the year.
The CSRC would approve the registration of the first batch of 18 actively managed exchange-traded funds on Monday, Wu said, in a move aimed at boosting product innovation in the country's capital markets.
(Reporting by Shanghai and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by William Maclean)
