China tells central government owned firms not to sell shares as stocks tumble

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's state asset administrator told central government owned firms on Wednesday that they should not sell shares in their own listed companies during "unusual market volatility", as Chinese stocks continue to plunge despite a series of emergency support measures from Beijing.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council also told the 112 central government-owned conglomerates it oversees to buy more shares in listed firms they controlled in order to stabilize share prices.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell about 5 percent by midday, taking losses to around 30 percent since mid-June.

(Reporting By Shu Zhang and Nicholas Heath; Editing by Kim Coghill)