For the sixth session on the trot Australian stocks have fallen, weighed down by persistent concerns around the health of the Chinese economy.
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Chinese share trade was suspended by 12:43pm (AEDT), after less than 13 minutes of activity, when the key CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzen stocks fell 5 per cent, triggering an automatic 15-minute trading halt.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was down 19.54 points, or 0.4 percent, at the close of trade.
The local moves came as China made little change to its official currency fixing, and as Chinese markets opened higher after trading was suspended yesterday following a share plunge. The market opened lower following the weak cues from Wall Street and European markets overnight amid mounting worries over China’s economy.
Crude oil prices remained in free-fall Thursday on dismal news from China, a variety of geopolitical tensions and brimming oil supplies.
“The market has had a awful day with widespread selling across most of the major sectors”, CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said.
The Australian market had by earlier today notched up losses of more than 6 per cent this week alone, nearly reversing the gains from a Santa rally at the end of December.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng market, which isn’t subject to the closure of mainland markets following another 7 per cent tumble in the CSI 300, has declined as much as 3.1 per cent to its lowest since July 2013.
Financial stock also took a hit with Bank of Ireland down 1.8 per cent at 32 cent, FBD down 1.6 per cent at €6.25 and Permanent TSB off 2.8 per cent at €4.52. Wesfarmers lost 0.58 per cent to $39.74 and Woolworths added 0.75 per cent to $22.87.
In Ireland, the Iseq Overall Index closed down more than 1.8 per cent at 6,563.78.
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The Dow plunged 392.41 points or 2.3 percent to 16,514.10, the Nasdaq plummeted 146.34 points or 3 percent to 4,689.43 and the S&P 500 tumbled 47.17 points or 2.4 percent to 1,943.09.
