(Yicai) April 3 -- Central Huijin Investment, a sovereign wealth fund set up by China's central bank, raised its investments in exchange-traded funds by about CNY50 billion (USD6.9 billion) in the second half of last year to boost market confidence.

Central Huijin's holdings in nine ETFs nearly doubled to 40.1 billion shares as of the end of 2023 from June 30, with the fund becoming the largest shareholder in eight of them, according to statistics from data provider Wind Information. Its second-half investment was worth around CNY50 billion based on the average market value of these ETFs in the period.

Fund companies recently issued their annual financial reports for last year, revealing Central Huijin’s buying spree in the six months ended Dec. 31 and its holdings at the end of last year.

Many of their ETFs that track China's CSI 300 Index were the preferred investment targets of Central Huijin, with E Fund Management's CSI 300 ETF the favorite in the second half. Its share of that fund rose to 21 percent by the end of 2023, making Central Huijin the second-largest investor.

Central Huijin's stake in E Fund Management's CSI 300 ETF is worth more than CNY10 billion based on the average transaction price in the second half.

The fund hiked its holdings in four other ETFs in the last six months of 2023, with three being CSI 300 ETFs and one an SSE 50 ETF. These new holdings were worth around CNY40.5 billion based on their average transaction prices in the period.

In addition to ETFs, Central Huijin has also indirectly invested in the stock market via asset management plans formed by its asset management arm and mutual fund companies, Yicai found.

Central Huijin's subsidiary Central Huijin Asset Management directly or indirectly held 38 fund products through asset management plans, with a total holding of about 10.57 billion shares as of the end of last year.

Despite Central Huijin and other state-owned investment firms buying into China’s markets late last year, the decline in the country’s major stock indexes did not stop until early February. The ETFs in which Central Huijin increased its holdings fell 10 percent in the second half of 2023.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev