CHINA halves the stamp duty on stock trading starting today, the Finance Ministry and State Taxation Administration said in a statement yesterday.

The move intends to activate the capital market and boost investor confidence, the authorities said.

Prior to the cut, the stamp duty on stock trades was 0.1% for sellers.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) yesterday announced three measures to boost the struggling stock markets.

The CSRC said initial public offerings (IPOs) will slow down temporarily, with an aim to balance the financial interests of both investors and those pursuing funding.

To more effectively regulate share reduction activities, the CSRC has established rigorous conditions on stock sales by shareholders. Controlling shareholders and de-facto controllers will be prohibited from reducing holdings via the secondary market, in cases where a listed company’s share price has dropped below the IPO price or its net capital per share, or has not declared any cash dividends in the past three years.

The restriction is also applicable if total cash dividends over the last three years have been less than 30% of the average annual net profit.

The CSRC will also maintain a firm grasp on the total reductions undertaken by other shareholders, advising them to adjust offloading rates in line with the market situation. It also authorized lowering the minimum margin ratio for investors purchasing securities from 100% down to 80%. This measure will come into effect after the market close Sept. 8.

(SD-Xinhua)