Figures this weekend showed that profits at China’s industrial firms fell 6.7% in July from a year earlier, extending this year’s slump to a seventh month, and year-to-date earnings shrank 15.5% compared with the same period last year.
In their latest effort to try and reverse the malaise, Chinese authorities this weekend halved the stamp duty on stock trading. The move, effective Monday, will see a 0.1% cut in the duty on stock trades “in order to invigorate the capital market and boost investor confidence”.
Stock exchanges have also lowered their margin financing requirements, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
This comes as U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a four-day visit aimed at boosting business ties between the world’s two largest economies. Relations between the two superpowers are near rock-bottom.
Asian stocks start the week on a slightly better footing than recent weeks, but not much. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index snapped a three-week losing streak but the rise of only 0.2% was the smallest since November, an even more underwhelming rebound after a cumulative 10% slide in the previous three weeks.
