Beijing, China (BBN)-The dramatic sell-off in China’s main stock market has continued despite regulators desperate efforts to try and stem the losses.
The Shanghai Composite index plunged 8 per cent on opening, taking the drop in share values to 30 per cent since their June peak, reports BBC.
On Wednesday, another 500 listed firms said they would stop trading their shares in an effort to insulate themselves from the meltdown.
Around 1,300 firms have halted trading, almost half of China’s main shares.
IG chief market strategist Chris Weston dubbed the sell-off “Black Wednesday”.
“For the first time, The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has admitted there is genuine ‘panic selling’ underway.
“Of course, this is tongue in cheek, but when we see around 90% of the market suspended or falling by their daily limit (while further measures have been taken to limit the influence seemingly exerted by futures traders) you know things are becoming less rational,” he said.
‘MARKET STABILITY’
Chinese regulators made a string of pledges on Wednesday to try and ease the “panic sentiment” in the market.
The Cabinet agency that oversees China’s biggest state-owned companies said it had told them not to sell shares and to buy more “in order to safeguard market stability”.
And the CIRC pledged to make more money available to brokerages from its state-backed margin finance firm.
Investors in China rely on margin financing from these brokerages to borrow money to buy stocks.
Insurers were also given the go-ahead to invest more in blue chip stocks – with the industry watchdog raising limits from 5% of their total assets up to 10 per cent.
The official intervention did little to reassure investors.
The Shanghai Composite was down 6.1 per cent at 3,582.50 by early afternoon. And Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 4.2 per cent at 23,926.09, mirroring falls on China’s mainland.
Markets in the rest of Asia were also lower, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down 2.24 per cent to 19,919.89.
In Australia, shares fell as the price of iron ore – one of its biggest exports – fell almost 6 per cent to a three month low.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 1.78 per cent at 5,482.20.
And South Korea’s Kospi index was lower by 1.04 per cent to 2,019.04 as investors looked forward to the central bank’s decision on interest rates on Thursday.

BBN/SK/AD