|
 The comments came as the country's stock market showed further signs
of stabilizing after a raft of government measures aimed at shaking
out speculators and preventing a 40 percent slide since June turning
into a full-scale market crash.
Steady financial markets will be critical for the president this
week when he visits the United States, where he is likely to be
grilled on China's actions to arrest the market slide.
The wild fluctuations have unnerved policymakers globally and even
fed into the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision last week to hold back
from raising interest rates from a record low.
Officials in Washington have pressed China to reaffirm its
commitment to a market-orientated, consumer-driven economy and
policy transparency, especially in the wake of its surprise
devaluation of the yuan, also known as the renminbi, in August.
"Reform of the renminbi exchange rate formation regime will continue
in the direction of market operation," Xi said in an interview with
the Wall Street Journal. He said the government's market
intervention, which some critics said was heavy handed, had been
necessary to "defuse systemic risks".
Indeed, British Finance Minister George Osborne said during a visit
to China that authorities should be supported as they remain
committed to market liberalization following the bout of volatility
this summer.
Speaking at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Osborne said he was keen to
see a formal stock market trading link between China and London,
part of his goal to make Britain China's "best partner in the West".
China stock prices rebounded for a second day on Tuesday, in a
further sign of improving investor sentiment that may help the
market stabilize.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and
Shenzhen rose 0.9 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index also
gained 0.9 percent. China's volatility index, a gauge of investor
fears, has dropped to 40 percent from an August peak of 64 percent.
Still, China's gloomy economic outlook was underlined by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a top state-backed research
center, which forecast growth would slow this year to 6.9 percent.
[to top of second column] |
The government has forecast growth of around 7 percent but a run of
weak data has reinforced market expectations the final outcome will
be below 7 percent.
In its latest forecast released on Tuesday, the Asian Development
Bank said it expected China's economy to grow 6.8 percent this year
and weigh on other economic prospects. It urged regional
policymakers to strengthen financial-system buffers against external
shocks.
China's next big economic indicator is on Wednesday with the release
of the preliminary China factory purchasing managers' index.
Economists expect the PMI to show that manufacturing activity is
near 6-1/2 year lows and point to a seventh straight month of
contraction for the sector.
Stock markets may have steadied for a few days but sentiment remains
fragile, said Richard Grace, chief currency and rates strategist at
Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
"It won't take much to derail some of the optimism if the September
Chinese PMI due tomorrow is on the bearish side, and this may in
turn take some pricing of a tightening out of the U.S. rates
market," Grace said in a note to clients.
(Reporting by Pete Sweeney and Kevin Yao; Additional reporting by
Winni Zhou in BEIJING; Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI; Karen Lema and Erik
dela Cruz in MANILA; Writing by Neil Fullick; Editing by Rachel
Armstrong)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
