Beijing slashes trading tax to boost stock confidence

China's stock market regulator has cut the tax on making trades on mainland stock exchanges from 0.3% to 0.1%, the Financial Times reported. The move, which reverses a tripling of the stamp duty in May 2007, is aimed at increasing investor confidence in the A-share market. The government has come under pressure to bolster the market from both retail investors, whose ranks have swelled in the past year, and large state-owned firms with large stock holdings. As of this week, the Shanghai Composite Index has fallen by 50% from an all-time high reached in October of last year, though it is still at three times late 2005 levels.