Bank Of China's Ning's Defensive Tone is Worrisome, POTC Believes It's a Mirror Image of Bernanke's Rhetoric in mid 2008, caution...

BEIJING (Dow Jones)--China's central bank will emphasize market-based systems, rather than administrative controls, in guiding the appropriate growth of credit, People's Bank of China Vice Governor Su Ning said. Su said that the PBOC will use monetary policy tools flexibly to guide credit, according to a statement issued on the Web site of the PBOC late Wednesday. It said Su made the comments at a recent meeting in Shanghai. Su said financial institutions need to work in line with the government's goal in supporting the economy and preventing financial risks. The statement came hours after a share sell-off in Chinese stocks Wednesday, in part on fears that loan growth could be slowing, sent a jolt through other regional markets from Mumbai to Sydney. Su's comments appeared to signal the PBOC wasn't about to set loan curbs in the second half of the year to cool explosive lending growth, as some market participants are fearing. In volatile trading, the Shanghai Composite Index plunged as much as 7.7% before ending down 5.0% at 3266.43, erasing most of the gains in the last five sessions. The decline is the biggest percentage drop at market close since Nov. 18, when the index ended down 6.3%. -By J.R. Wu, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588-5848; jr.wu@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=iOpBCVX%2FTDxPW7GzJkF9Kg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 29, 2009 11:12 ET (15:12 GMT) Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 11 12 AM EDT 07-29-09