Shanghai stocks slid 7 percent to trigger the halt in trading, a repeat performance of Monday’s sudden tumble.
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(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko). A man looks at an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016.
Earlier on Thursday, China’s stock markets were suspended for the day less than half an hour after the open as the mechanism was tripped for the second time this week.
Nearly a year ago today, an investor reacted as Chinese shares plunged 6.3 per cent after the country’s securities regulator imposed margin trading curbs on several major brokerages.
A Chinese investor takes a smartphone photo of electronic displays showing stock prices in a brokerage house in Beijing, Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The stock dropped $3.66, or 14.5 percent, to $22.88.
Both Hong Kong and Mainland China A-share markets rose at midday close on Friday morning after Beijing’s suspension of a new circuit break mechanism on Thursday night, while the Hong Kong stock market bounced back.
The CSI300 index rose 2.4 per cent to 3,371.87 points by 12.27pm (AEDT) while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.2 per cent to 3,194.63 points.
CONTAINER STORE STUMBLE: The Container Store reported a surprise third-quarter loss and disappointing sales, and its stock plunged $2.98, or 41.5 percent, to $4.20.
It was a week in which trading in China’s markets was twice halted by a circuit breaker, before the authorities chose to suspend the measure.
Thursday’s drop pushed the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index into what market watchers call a “correction”, or a drop of 10 percent from a recent peak.
There are also concerns that China’s economy and stock market aren’t being properly managed. Germany’s benchmark stock index, the DAX, is off 7 percent so far this year and France’s CAC 40 dropped 5 percent.
On the commodity markets, the February gold contract fell $5.40 to US$1,102.90 an ounce and the February crude contract was down 40 cents at US$32.87 per barrel. Mexico warned that China’s weakening of the yuan could trigger a global currency war as the peso hit new lows against the dollar.
On Thursday moring, a 7 per cent fall in the index triggered a circuit breaker that suspended trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen after just 13 minutes.
China’s stock market extended a volatile week of trading, swinging between gains and losses early Friday.
MIXED BAG: Energy companies fell with the price of oil. Stocks rose in Taiwan and were mixed in Southeast Asia.
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CURRENCIES, BONDS: The euro fell to $1.089 from $1.0927 and the dollar edged up to 117.75 yen from 117.50 yen late Thursday. U.S.-traded oil fell 2.1% to $33.27 a barrel overnight. Aerospace company Boeing lost $4.72, or 3.4 percent, to $134.11 and railroad operator Union Pacific shed $1.24, or 1.7 percent, to $73.59.
