BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Wednesday it should guide big state insurers and business insurance funds to extend investments within the A-share market, in a contemporary move to spice up its lagging stock market.

Under a plan jointly released by six financial regulators including the securities regulator, big state-owned insurance firms might be directed to lift each the dimensions and proportion of their investments in Chinese stocks listed on the mainland and equity funds.

The regulators will implement a long-term performance evaluation for state-owned insurance firms, with the annual return on equity weighted not more than 30% of the evaluation, and a minimum of 60% for an extended three-to-five-year cycle.

The plan comes as Chinese stocks kicked off 2025 with deep losses on worries that U.S. President Donald Trump will impose hefty tariffs on Chinese goods, heaping more pressure on an already sluggish economy.

The plan will increase the investments of China’s National Social Security Fund and pension funds into the stock market.

It is going to also guide mutual fund managers to steadily increase each the dimensions and proportion of equity funds under their management.

China has unveiled a slew of measures to spice up investor confidence and revive its stock market. Amongst measures to support capital markets over the past few months, authorities have rolled out swap and relending schemes totalling 800 billion yuan for stock purchases.

(Reporting by Ziyi Tang, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Alison Williams)