Securities regulator sees market stabilizing

BEIJING - China's securities regulator said Friday that the country's stock market performance is stabilizing and the impact of sudden shocks that weighed on the market is fading.

Jiang Xiangyang, spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), told a press conference that the Chinese economy has great growth potential due to accelerating industrialization and urbanization as well as economic restructuring, which will provide strategic development opportunities for the stock market.

Jiang said the CSRC will take action against any property developers that hoard housing units and land plots to artificially push up prices, by suspending their initial public offering, re-financing and asset restructuring plans.

China's key Shanghai stock index scored its biggest gain in more than two months on Friday, a sign of growing confidence that credit conditions are improving as interbank borrowing costs extended their fall from a record high reached during last week's credit crunch.

However, the key Shanghai index still lost more than 4 percent in the past week and has fallen nearly 14 percent this month.