(Yicai) Oct. 19 -- More listed Chinese companies repurchased their equity this year than last year but they spent less money on preserving stock prices while analysts at China Merchants Securities said a market bottom might be near.

Some 1,095 listed companies repurchased more than 6.1 billion shares for over CNY61.7 billion (USD8.4 billion) this year, according to Wind data. During the same period last year, 1,009 firms bought back over 8.9 billion shares for CNY86.6 billion.

Waves of repurchases tend to happen slightly ahead of a market bottom or at the same time, China Merchants Securities said. For example, firms purchased CNY21 billion of shares from November to December of 2018, and the market reversed on Jan. 3, 2019, with an interval of 54 trading days from the previous bottom.

The alternative to dividends should be getting more popular as an official at the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in August that the regulator will optimize the share repurchase system, support more listed companies to repurchase their equity to stabilize and boost share prices, safeguard shareholders’ rights and interests, and consolidate the foundation for a smooth operation of the market.

This month, 212 companies have announced stock buybacks. Within the past two trading days alone, nearly 60 firms disclosed repurchases on the two mainland bourses of Shanghai and Shenzhen. Some 18 companies received such proposals from chairpersons and actual controllers.

The group includes big state-owned enterprises. Baoshan Iron and Steel, also known as Baosteel, said on Oct. 16 that the iron and steelmaker intends to spend no more than CNY3 billion (USD410.1 million) to repurchase between 330 million and 500 million shares, accounting for 1.48 to 2.25 percent of the total.

SOEs such as China National Coal Group, China Railway Construction, Power Construction Corporation of China, and China Mobile have revealed similar plans while Central Huijin Investment, a sovereign wealth fund, increased its stakes in the nation's four largest state-owned commercial banks.

Moreover, Pang Kang, chairman of soy sauce giant Haitian Flavouring and Food, recently proposed a stock buyback program through centralized bidding, earmarking from CNY500 million to CNY800 million (USD68.3 million to USD109.4 million) for the purpose.

Editor: Emmi Laine