BANGKOK (AP) -- The Chinese government plans to ensure that share prices will rise by ordering pensions and mutual funds to invest more in domestic stocks, to help jolt the markets out of the doldrums.
Officials told reporters in Beijing on Thursday that mutual funds should increase holdings of onshore stocks by at least 10% a year over the next three years.
Commercial insurance funds will have to put 30% of their annual new premium revenue into share markets beginning this year, they said.
The head of the securities regulatory commission said the moves will add "several hundred billion yuan" of long-term funds to the domestic "A-share" market.
Markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai rose early Thursday after the announcement, with the Shanghai Composite index gaining 1.4%.
