Chinese President Xi Jingping Sets A 'New Normal' In Response To Slowing Growth, Shares Rally

The closing blue chip Hang Seng index is displayed inside the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 10, 2014.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's comments from Saturday during a tour of Henan province, when he called upon the world's second-largest economy to remain “cool-minded” and adapt to weakening growth, sent the nation's indexes soaring Monday.

China’s economic growth slowed to 7.4 percent in the most recent quarter after growing at 7.7 percent in the quarter before that, and while analysts expect that China might witness its weakest expansion since 1990, the nation's policy makers, in a bid to spur growth, have limited support for tax breaks, and poured money into infrastructure and housing projects.

“We must boost our confidence, adapt to the new normal condition based on the characteristics of China's economic growth in the current phase and stay cool-minded,” Xi said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency, adding that the government now needed to prevent risks and take “timely counter-measures to reduce potential negative effects.”

Wu Kan, a fund manager at Shanghai-based Dragon Life Insurance Co., said according to Bloomberg: “The announcement is good for the market in the medium and long term and raises the government’s attention to the stock market to the state level,” adding: “This will boost the confidence of the market.”