China Stock Futures Premium Points to Market Calm

(Bloomberg) — China’s equity futures market has restored some sense of normalcy after a period of extreme discounts, a sign that relentless bearishness may be fading as policymakers step in to calm investor nerves.

The CSI1000 Index futures settled at 5073.80 Wednesday, returning to a small premium against the underlying small cap index. Just a month ago, the discount had widened to a record -179 points, when market watchers suggested that the feverish selling was largely triggered by hedging needs from holders of a derivatives product called the “snowball.”