Beijing, China (BBN)-Chinese markets saw steep losses in late trade on Tuesday as investors worried about oil prices, and despite an injection of liquidity into the mainland market by the central bank.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite closed down 6.42 per cent at 2,749.79, reports BBC.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 2.48 per cent to 18,860.8 points.
Elsewhere, markets in Asia followed US stocks lower as further falls in the price of oil continued to unsettle investors.
Brent crude prices dropped below $30 a barrel ending a short-lived rebound as persistent concerns of oversupply were exacerbated by news that Iraq’s output reached a record high last month
Wall Street also fell, wiping out most of its gains from the past two days.
Asia’s biggest index, Japan’s Nikkei 225, followed the US, dropping 2.4 per cent to close at 16,708.90 points.
The ongoing slump in the oil price has investors worried that slowing growth in the global economy, and China in particular, is far from any substantial recovery.
WEAK KOREAN GROWTH
Korean stocks also fell, with the Kospi index closing 1.2 per cent lower at 1,871.42 points.
Investor sentiment in Seoul was also dampened by data showing the country’s economy grew at a slightly lower rate in the last quarter of 2015 from the previous three months.
Fourth-quarter growth rose 0.6 per cent in seasonally-adjusted terms from the third quarter, slowing from its 1.3 per cent expansion in the previous quarter.
In Australia, markets remained closed for a national holiday.
BBN/SK/AD