Chinese stock investors' confidence rises in July: survey

BEIJING - Chinese stock investors signalled restored confidence in July as the country's economic fundamentals and policies boosted equity markets, according to a recent industry survey.

Conducted by the China Securities Investor Protection Funds, the survey found that July's investor confidence index for the A-share markets stood at 59.6 on a scale of 100 points, up 6 percent from June and 1.9 percent from a year ago.

The domestic economic fundamentals index rose 7.8 points from the previous month to 65.5 points in July, the survey showed, citing upbeat major economic indicators, including second-quarter GDP, that point to a firming economy.

The survey also indicated improved confidence in government policies to boost the stock market with the domestic economic policies index reaching 70.2 points in July, up 6.3 points from June.

In June, a sudden stock market rout hit the country by surprise with the key Shanghai stock index plunging by more than 30 percent from its June 12 peak. Before the free fall began, the Shanghai composite had risen by 152 percent since July 2014 and nearly 60 percent since the beginning of this year.

The market has shown signs of recovery on the heels of government's rescue measures, including the reduction of IPOs, bans on short-selling and introduction of a six-month ban on big shareholders selling stocks.

On Tuesday, China's stock market ended a three-day losing streak with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surging 3.69 percent to close at 3,756.54 points.