Speculative risks rising, regulator warns

Securities officials warned on Friday of growing speculative risk in the country's stock market after a surge of 18 percent in just two weeks.

"We have noticed rising manipulation and speculation in the market and we will step up a crackdown on these activities to better protect investors' interests," Deng Ge, a spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told a news conference in Beijing.

The CSRC ordered stock brokerages to provide proper guidance to clients, and it also warned retail investors not to engage in risky practices such as "borrowing money or selling houses to buy stocks".