DHAKA: Mainland Chinese shares continued to slide on Wednesday, falling more than 8% on opening.

The slump came despite more moves by China’s regulators to try and stabilize the recently volatile market.

The Shanghai Composite had recovered some losses by early afternoon and was down 3.88% at 3,582.50.

Hundreds more listed companies announced a halt in trading of their stocks - fearing the values of their firms would be wiped out.

Chinese regulators made a string of pledges on Wednesday to try and ease the ‘panic sentiment’ in the market.

Other efforts included making more money available to brokerages from its state-backed margin finance firm.

Investors in China rely on margin financing from these brokerages to borrow money to buy stocks.

And insurers were given the go-ahead to invest more in blue chip stocks - with the industry watchdog raising limits from 5% of their total assets up to 10%.

But none of the announcements inspired confidence, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1220 HRS, JULY 08, 2015
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** Chinese shares slide despite govt support