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Beijing has informally asked some money managers in China to prioritise the launch of equity funds over other products like bond funds, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as authorities scramble to revive its lagging stock market.

The “window guidance”, or unofficial, verbal advice from regulators, was given by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to some of the country’s biggest mutual fund managers in recent weeks, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the information was not public.

The CSRC did not respond to a request for comment. China’s US$3,8 trillion mutual fund industry is a key pillar of the country’s capital markets, but has seen sales, especially those of equity funds tapering off over the past year as stock benchmarks test multi-year lows. The move to launch new equity funds is part of a campaign by the authorities in the world’s second-largest economy over the past year to revive the stock market and boost investor confidence dented by a destabilising property sector crisis and sputtering growth.

While Beijing has rolled out a raft of measures aimed at boosting the economy in recent months, analysts have said the moves are not sufficient to restore market confidence and it is not clear if the latest guidance will either.

Past stock market support measures included halving stamp duty on stock trading, slowing the pace of initial public offerings (IPOs), encouraging margin financing and protecting small investors.

Despite those measures, China’s stock market was among the worst performers globally in 2023, with the blue chip CSI300 index closing the year with 11 percent losses, against a 20 percent gain for global stocks. — Reuters.