In this Feb 2, 2020 photo, people make protective suits at the workshop of a company in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian province. (LIN SHANCHUAN / XINHUA)

BEIJING – China's financial market remains generally stable compared with overseas markets despite the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to the country's top securities watchdog.

The A-share market has shown strong resilience and anti-risk ability, while the decline in the Chinese A-share market was relatively mild, Li Chao, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said at a press conference Sunday.

Li Chao said the external impact on the financial market will be short-lived and will not change the trend of steady development of China's financial market

He attributed this to measures taken by China over recent years to advance supply-side structural reform in the financial market.

To ease risks on the domestic market, the CSRC has taken a series of measures including lowering the leverage level, reducing the stock pledges of listed companies and controlling the increments, Li said.

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Meanwhile, Li noted the commission has been optimizing trading regulation and giving play to market mechanisms, which ensured the financial market to function smoothly.

In the first two months of 2020, about 1.3 trillion yuan (about US$182.96 billion) was raised on the stock and bond markets of stock exchanges, the vice chairman said.

Li said the external impact on the financial market will be short-lived and will not change the trend of steady development of China's financial market, citing the facts that 98 percent of listed companies have resumed work, the stock market value is at a historically low level and liquidity of the market is reasonably abundant.

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On the previous trading day, major Chinese stock indices closed higher, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.61 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index gaining by 1.3 percent.