Four Chinese regulatory agencies have issued a joint statement “encouraging” listed companies to hand out more dividends, buy back their own shares and carry out more mergers and corporate restructurings to boost slumping share prices.

中国四家监管机构联合发布通知，“鼓励”上市公司派发更多股息，回购股票，并进行更多并购和公司重组，以提振低迷的股价。

The statement from the finance ministry and the regulators in charge of securities, banking and state-owned assets was issued after Beijing’s decision to end its large-scale but unsuccessful programme of direct stock purchases.

财政部会同证券、银行和国有资产监管机构发布《关于鼓励上市公司兼并重组、现金分红及回购股份的通知》之前，北京方面决定结束其大规模但未能成功的直接购股计划。

State-owned funds and financial institutions have spent more than $200bn since early July trying to prop up the market but benchmark indices have still fallen 40 per cent from their peak of early June.

自7月初以来，国有基金和金融机构支出了2000多亿美元试图救市，但基准股指仍从6月初达到的峰值下降了40%。

The government has decided to abandon these share purchases and concentrate instead on boosting the slowing real economy, “improving the quality of the equity market” and arresting people deemed to be manipulating the market.

政府决定放弃购买股票，转而集中精力提振不断放缓的实体经济，提升资本市场质量，同时抓捕那些被视为操纵市场的人。

In their statement, the four agencies pledged to step up the restructuring and mergers of listed state enterprises to make them more attractive to investors.

四家监管机构在《通知》中承诺推进上市国有企业的兼并重组，使其对投资者更具吸引力。

They said state-owned banks would be urged to provide low-interest, long-term loans to help listed companies conduct more mergers and acquisitions at home and abroad.

它们表示，将敦促国有银行提供低息、长期贷款，以帮助上市公司在国内外进行更多并购。

The statement also said the agencies would “actively encourage” listed companies to issue more cash dividends, a practice that is relatively rare among companies listed on mainland Chinese stock exchanges.

《通知》还表示，它们将“积极鼓励”上市公司派发更多现金股息，这种做法在中国内地上市企业中比较少见。

The agencies will facilitate share buybacks by listed companies through regulatory measures that, analysts said, could include tax breaks. Buybacks would take place when share prices fall below net asset value.

这些机构将通过监管措施（分析师们表示可能包括税收优惠）便利上市公司回购股票。在股价跌至低于每股净资产时，鼓励上市公司回购股票。

Such measures would be aimed at helping companies issue bonds or preferred stock so they could raise money to buy back their own shares.

这些措施将旨在帮助企业发行债券或优先股，以便他们筹集资金回购股票。

Even after the falls in recent months, China’s benchmark index is up more than 40 per cent from a year ago and most analysts say Chinese shares are still overvalued.

即使在近几个月下跌后，中国的基准股指仍比一年前高出40%以上。大多数分析师称，中国股票仍被高估。

Since most listed companies in China are still trading at rich valuations and few are trading below their net asset value, any share buybacks are likely to be a long time in the future.

由于中国大多数上市公司的估值仍偏高，同时几乎没有一家上市公司的股价低于每股净资产，因此任何股票回购都很可能是遥远未来的事情。

Du Changchun, an analyst at Northeast Securities, said: “This is only a guiding document that says the government supports and encourages these measures. It is not a directive so it will not necessarily have an [immediate] effect. From the perspective of the listed companies, whether or not they will be able to implement it really just depends on their individual considerations.”

东北证券(Northeast Securities)分析师杜长春表示：“这只是一个指导性文件，上面写着政府支持和鼓励这些措施。它不是一个指令，所以它未必（立即）产生效果。从上市公司的视角看，能不能执行实际上完全取决于它们各自的考虑。”

On Tuesday Chinese stocks continued their slide, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finishing the day down 1.23 per cent, having fallen nearly 5 per cent at one point in the morning.

周二中国股票延续跌势，基准的上证综指(Shanghai Composite Index)收盘跌1.23%，早盘一度下跌近5%。