Regulator keeps securities’ stamp duty unchanged at 0.1%

Chinese shares rose on Thursday upon the news that two government departments disclosed the government intention to keep the stamp duty on securities trading unchanged.

The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued a draft law on Thursday which keeps the stamp duty on securities trading unchanged at 0.1 percent.

It also allows the State Council, China’s cabinet, to determine future rate adjustments.

The two departments are now soliciting public opinion about the new stamp duty legislation.

The rate of the stamp duty on securities trading has been on the same level since 2008.

Li Daxiao, chief economist at Shenzhen-based Yingda Securities, said that this is the first time that the government has sought public opinion on stamp duty levies on securities trading.

“I think that it has showed a kind of policy friendliness toward the securities sector. This is a positive signal for the stock markets,” he told the Global Times on Thursday.

The securities shares surged on Thursday, with stocks of Great Wall Securities rising by the daily limit of 10 percent and shares of TF Securities surging by 9.95 percent.

An index tracking major brokerage firms jumped 3.15 percent on China’s efforts to promote the development of capital markets, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Yang Delong, chief economist of First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times that after the State Council takes over the job of determining future rate adjustments of the stamp duty, it might move to adjust the stamp duty in the future as part of a stimulus package if the market plunges in an irrational manner.