China’s securities regulators are taking aim at automated trading in shares, part of Beijing’s campaign to restrain stock market volatility by intensifying pressure on the financial industry.
The market watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, issued broad guidelines on so-called “programme trading” on Friday, and China’s two main stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen followed up with new draft rules on computerised automated trading.
Chinese regulators have already targeted high-frequency traders as part of an attack on price manipulation, which they blame for turmoil that has seen the Shanghai composite index fall by nearly 40 per cent since hitting a seven-year high on June 12.