China announced new measures to promote the development of index investment products, its latest effort to shore up the ailing equity market as it embraces a turbulent external economic environment.

China announced plans on Thursday (Jan 23) to channel hundreds of billions of yuan annually into shares from state-owned insurers, in the government’s latest effort to support equity markets. Read more at The Business Times.

China announced plans on Thursday to channel hundreds of billions of yuan of investment from state-owned insurers into shares as part of the government's latest efforts to support a struggling stock market.

Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after China rolled out more moves to try to boost its lagging stock markets by raising confidence that prices will rise. Officials in Beijing

Starting this year, 30 per cent of the annual insurance premium from new policies will be put into yuan-denominated A shares, regulator Wu Qing said.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market.

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 beginning this year mutual funds should increase holdings of onshore stocks,

China has announced plans to inject hundreds of billions of yuan into its equity markets annually, aiming to bolster investor confidence. In the first half of the year, state-owned insurers will invest at least 100