BEIJING, Ramadan 21, 1436, Jul 8, 2015, SPA -- In a flurry of new moves to halt a stock market slide, China's government on Wednesday told state companies and corporate executives to buy shares, raised the amount of equities insurance companies can hold and promised more credit to finance trading, AP reported. Hundreds of companies have announced a halt to trading in their shares after emergency measures announced last weekend failed to stop a slide that has dragged down the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index by more than 30 percent since early June. Despite the new measures, the Shanghai index lost another 5.9 percent on Wednesday. The decline threatens to fuel political tensions and set back Communist Party plans to use financial markets to make China's state-dominated economy more productive. --SPA 12:43 LOCAL TIME 09:43 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w