[SHANGHAI] China Securities Finance Corp (CSF), the state margin lender to brokerages, plans to issue 80 billion yuan (S$17.45 billion) of short-term bills in the interbank market, the official Securities Times reported, citing unidentified sources.

This is the biggest ever bill issuance by CSF, and the People's Bank of China is responsible for approving the deal, the newspaper said.

It comes days after an announcement that the central bank would provide liquidity support to CSF through various channels to help it expand its business and strengthen its ability to stabilise the stock market.

Over the weekend, CSF said it would nearly quadruple its capital base to 100 billion yuan, and would further raise capital from various channels.

China has announced a slew of emergency measures recently in a bid to stem a nearly 30 per cent plunge in the stock market since mid June, but stocks tumbled sharply again on Tuesday.

REUTERS