In a week when Washington has taken on trillions of dollars of liabilities in a spectacular government bail-out, Chinese investors are watching for signs that their government will intervene to prop up the Shanghai stock market, the world's worst performing market.

So far, there is little sign that Beijing has imminent plans to buy shares in Shanghai, where the benchmark composite index has lost 65 per cent of its value since last October's peak. The index closed yesterday at 2,150. Many investors consider 2,000 to be the next big psychological barrier for the market and the government, so speculation about government intervention at that level is rampant.

The market fall has put Beijing under intense pressure to consider what it can do to support share prices, and avoid the kind of social unrest that has plagued other plummeting emerging markets. The securities regulator, the CSRC, is still considering setting up a stabilisation fund that would buy shares to support the market. But this is seen as a last resort and is unlikely to be established soon, say officials.