Chinese investors are gearing up for a speech next week by the chief of the securities watchdog for clues on how Beijing will ramp up support for the country’s stock market after its latest efforts did little to bolster sentiment.

Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), is due to deliver a keynote speech at the Financial Street Forum in Beijing on Monday. Other top financial regulators including central bank governor Pan Gongsheng will also address the four-day conference.

Investors will closely scrutinise Wu’s speech after the CSRC’s recent efforts to talk up stocks fell short of reviving confidence. Speculation is rife that regulators will come up with more measures to prop up stocks if sentiment worsens. The CSRC convened a symposium with market participants over the weekend, with Wu signalling market-stabilising measures and touting the resilience of China’s economy.

Possible measures on the table included direct state buying, encouragement of more buy-backs by listed companies, guidance for entry of long-term capital and slower approvals of initial public offerings (IPOs), according to investors including Huichen Asset Management.

“The CSRC will very probably do more to put a floor under the stock market, should stocks fall further,” said Dai Ming, a fund manager at the Shanghai-based asset-management firm. “The most direct way to intervene is state buying, and slowing the pace of IPOs is possible as well.”Mainland equities have taken a pounding amid deteriorating sentiment on global technology stocks and China’s weak domestic demand. This week, the CSI 300 Index traded close to its lowest level in 14 months, and a gauge of the 50 biggest stocks on the chip-centric Star Market fell to a nadir not seen since April.

The latest state intervention dates back to July, when China’s two state buyers bought at least 60 billion yuan (US$9 billion) of stocks to arrest a decline triggered by a rout on artificial intelligence bets globally. Stocks stabilised afterwards alongside more evidence of strong demand for AI buildout.

The recent sell-offs were more related to positioning and an uptick in global longer-dated bonds than to the domestic economic fundamentals, according to Li Xuewei, a fund manager at HSBC Jintrust Fund Management.

He pointed to the gains in utilities, banks and other dividend stocks as evidence that the decline was not caused by a systemic risk.

“The pullback in Chinese technology stocks is more about changes of sentiment and positioning,” Li said. “We may see a repair window after sentiment calms and the positioning reaches a rebalance.”

Shiva Capital Group, one of China’s biggest hedge fund firms with at least 10 billion yuan of assets under management, lambasted domestic insurers for causing the market swings. In a recent letter to clients, founder Liang Hong accused big insurance firms of massively cutting holdings of technology stocks last month to minimise losses after chasing the AI bets in July.

Meanwhile, deleveraging was still under way, putting further restraint on stocks. The outstanding balance of stocks bought with borrowed money on the mainland’s exchanges dropped 5 per cent over the past two months to 2.52 trillion yuan on Monday, according to the data from China Securities Finance.

The CSRC’s persistent push for market-stabilising mechanisms would eventually override these challenges, according to Chasing Securities. The combined value of buy-backs and dividend payouts by listed companies exceeded 7 trillion yuan since the State Council issued a high-stakes document outlining a long-term blueprint for the capital market in 2024, it said.

“The market is subject to the fallout of sentiment and even speculation in the short term,” said Yuan Chuang, an analyst at the brokerage. “But in the long run, it will reflect companies’ intrinsic values. Investors should stick to value investing against the backdrop of bigger volatility.”