Pension funds 'not obliged' to prop up stock market

State Council approves channeling up to 600b yuan into nation's equity market

China's pension funds do not have the obligation to prop up or rescue the country's turbulent stock market, a top official said on Friday amid popular expectations for the funds to do so.

Up to 600 billion yuan ($97 billion) could be channeled into China's equity market after the State Coucil gave final approval on Sunday to allow pension funds access to the stock market. These funds will be able to invest up to 30 percent of their net assets in the country's stocks, stock index futures and government bond futures, a departure from the requirement that the massive funds could only park money in low-yielding bank deposits and Treasury bonds.