– ‘Step up’ –
Chinese shares have been on a roller-coaster ride after a year-long debt-fuelled rally collapsed in mid-June, prompting the government to unleash a vast support package that has included using state vehicles to support the market.
In the latest move, Beijing said on Sunday it would allow the state pension fund, which had 3.5 trillion yuan of assets at the end of 2014, to buy stocks.
But mainland investors are worried that support could start to taper and they are now waiting to see if the “national team” will intervene further, or China’s central bank will loosen monetary policy.
The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, said on Tuesday it had injected 150 billion yuan ($23 billion) into the money market to ease tight liquidity.
“With such an unreasonable sell-off, they (regulators) should at least encourage the market and step up,” Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi told AFP.
The dollar remained weak at 118.78 yen, little changed from 118.51 yen in New York trade Monday, but dramatically weaker than 122.06 yen seen in US trading on Friday.
The euro stood at $1.1570 and 137.50 yen in Tokyo, compared with $1.1606 and 137.55 yen in New York overnight.
Commodity prices recovered after Monday’s rout, although oil remained under pressure as dealers expect a global supply glut to continue for the coming years.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery was trading at $38.67 in mid-morning Asian trade after closing at $38.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent North Sea crude for October, the international benchmark, was at $43.13 a barrel after closing at $42.69 a barrel in London, its lowest level since March 2009.
Safe-haven gold traded at $1,153.60, slightly down from $1,154.00 late on Monday but still some seven percent higher than its low this month.
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