Financial sites directed to avoid negative information

The Chinese Communist Party’s Publicity Department has issued verbal directions to major domestic financial websites to avoid negative commentaries, reports and headlines about China’s stock markets, the South China Morning Post reported. The directions come after the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) instructed fund managers in July to avoid negative comments about the markets in the run-up to the Olympics, and a week after the CSRC issued draft regulations that would prevent brokerages from releasing false or misleading information. It is not known whether the CSRC was behind the Publicity Department’s directions to websites. The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen 58.4% since January 1. It closed at 2,145.78 points on Tuesday, up 0.11% from Monday’s close.