INVESTOR confidence in China’s stock market improved in July after the government stepped in to halt a share price slide, Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday.

    The newspaper cited a survey by China Securities Investor Protection Fund Corp., a State-owned fund set up to protect the rights of securities investors, which said investor confidence in the stock market rose in July to 59.6, up 1.9 percent from June.

    The index is measured on a scale of 1 to 100, where a level above 50 signifies confidence.

    China’s stock market skidded 14 percent in July, their biggest monthly loss in nearly six years, and are now down some 25 percent from mid-June highs. The report also said investor sentiment was positive in June, when panic selling started.

    Since the stock market started crashing, the government has rolled out an unprecedented series of support measures, including asking brokerages and pension funds to buy stocks, cracking down on short-selling and negative reports about the market.

    China’s main indices have tumbled about 25 percent since mid-June. While they have clawed back some ground from early July lows, analysts said shares remain vulnerable to sharp daily corrections and warn that many investors who were badly burnt by the slide will not return any time soon.

    (SD-Agencies)