Stocks offer better long-term prospects

Regulator to reduce 'administrative intervention' in market transactions

The Financial Stability and Development Committee on Thursday said China's stocks have started to show promising signs of becoming valuable long-term investments, sending a positive signal to investors who are jittery about performance of the domestic A-share indexes in the year ahead.

It also said that the regulator will reduce "administrative intervention" in market transactions, wording that was believed to be behind the rally of the A-share indices in the afternoon trading.