China restricts short selling

China’s largest brokerage firm has frozen short-selling by some clients on mainland indexes. State-owned Citic Securities halted individual investors from buying stocks on credit on the advice of regulators, while earlier this week it tightened rules for institutional clients, according to people familiar with the matter. Chinese stocks have continued to fall this year, with the Shanghai Composite Index posting its worst start to the year since 2016. The exact number of brokerages that have imposed short-selling restrictions is not known, but the move suggests China is trying to contain stock market declines. Authorities have also intervened in stock markets this year by buying stocks.