熔斷機制暫停 (rongduan jizhi zanting): Suspension of 'circuit breaker'

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's top securities regulator, announced late on Thursday that the domestic stock market "circuit breaker", put into place only for four days previously, would be suspended starting Friday.

The mechanism, that halts trade when the market sharply rises or plunges, was introduced as a stock market stabilizer. However, it has had the opposite effect, as the dramatic falls on the mainland stock markets triggered the circuit breaker mechanism twice within four days.

The mechanism was triggered on Monday, the day it was introduced, and resulted in an early close of the mainland stock markets. And on Thursday, the circuit breaker mechanism was triggered again about half an hour after the markets opened. The trading time that day was only 15 minutes.

The CSRC, the market watchdog, abruptly announced late on Thursday that the circuit breaker will be suspended because of its "negative" effect. Analysts said the very idea of a circuit breaker was another sign policymakers were reluctant to let market forces set the true level of share prices, worried that a collapse could spark social unrest and hurt the real economy.