TENCENT Holdings Ltd. bought a record HK$10 billion (US$1.3 billion) in shares in December, when China’s gaming regulator announced a raft of draft rules days before Christmas aimed at curbing spending and time on video games.

The announcement by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) dealt a severe blow to the world’s biggest games market and knocked the value of Tencent Holdings, Netease and other gaming stocks.

Shenzhen-based Tencent sharply accelerated its pace of purchases after the 12% plunge in its share price Dec. 22. The firm has since ramped up its pace of daily purchases to about HK$1 billion, compared with an average of HK$375 million a day last year prior to the sweeping restrictions.

While the NPPA quickly said that the draft rules were designed to promote the healthy development of the industry and promised to improve the proposed rules after “earnestly studying” public views, Tencent remains about 4% below where it was before the new rules were proposed. (SD-Agencies)