BEIJING, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Supervision departments were urged on Thursday to crack down on market speculation and illegal price hikes to ensure smooth market order.

A circular from the Ministry of Supervision asked its local bureaus nationwide to step up inspections to ensure that the central government's price policy was fully implemented.

It called for severe punishment of illegal activities including price-fixing, hoarding, cornering markets and spreading price-rise rumors to make profits.

The ministry also urged local offices to strengthen monitoring of the implementation of energy conservation and emission reduction regulations and punish violators.

Implementation of the central government's policies on fixed-asset investment and real-estate market development would also be checked and violators would be penalized, according to the document.