China revives support for margin trading

Chinese authorities on Monday boosted support for margin trading, which fueled a stunning stock market rally before government restrictions triggered a spectacular rout last year. 
Margin trading, through which investors only need to deposit a small proportion of the value of their trades, potentially generates bigger profits but also exposes them to bigger losses. 
It was behind a stock market boom that sent the Shanghai bourse up 150 percent in 12 months, before it plummeted from last June after regulators moved to tighten rules on the practice. 
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was 42.8 percent lower than the mid-June peak at last Friday's close. 
It rose 2.15 percent on Monday as investors welcomed the change. 
China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan told a forum on Sunday that Beijing expects more companies to seek equity funding to reduce their reliance on loans, according to the official Shanghai Securities News. 
The world's second-largest economy grew at its slowest pace in a quarter of century last year and Beijing has cut its 2016 expansion target to 6.5-7 percent.