CHINA will cut the trading hours for stock index futures contracts from January after a government campaign to prevent bearish wagers sparked a record collapse in volumes.

    Instead of starting from 9:15 a.m., trading in the morning will begin from 9:25 a.m., in line with the cash market, while the afternoon session will end at 3 p.m., 15 minutes earlier than the current time, the China Financial Futures Exchange said. The change will affect futures contracts linked to the CSI 300 Index, CSI Smallcap 500 Index and the Shanghai Stock Exchange 50 A-Share Index.

    Volumes in the country’s CSI 300 and CSI 500 futures hovered near record lows last week after falling 99 percent from their June highs. Ranked by the World Federation of Exchanges as the most active market for index futures as recently as July, liquidity in China has dried up as authorities raised margin requirements, tightened position limits and started a police probe into bearish wagers.

    “It will curb volatility,” said Wu Kan, a fund manager at JK Life Insurance Co. “It can prevent wild movements on the futures from affecting the spot market because of the time advantage.”

    Curbing trading hours may temper price swings after fluctuations in the benchmark index hit an 18-year high in August and remained elevated even as the government intervened to halt the market selloff. (SD-Agencies)