China’s Shanghai Composite opens 6 % lower
The US and European stock markets suffered sharp decline witnessed by other global markets yesterday. Stock markets worldwide endured one of their worst days yesterday since the 2008 financial crisis. The mayhem started with a rout in Asian bourses on mounting fears that China’s slowing economy will drag down the global economy with it. The catalyst was the Shanghai stock market’s 8.5 per cent plunge, its sharpest one-day fall in eight years, despite Chinese government efforts to stem turmoil in markets since mid-June.
Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange sank a mammoth 1,625 points yesterday, its biggest ever single-day fall–to close at 25,742, on intense, across-the-board selling pressure. The stock market carnage erased nearly 7 lakh crore rupees of investor wealth. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange crashed 491 points, to 7,809.
In the US, after an unprecedented 1,000-point decline at the open last night, the Dow closed with a loss of nearly 600 points. It was an extremely turbulent day for the US stocks driven by deep fears about China’s economic slowdown. Stocks staged a comeback that nearly brought the Dow back into positive territory but that ultimately failed. The 588-point decline was the worst for the Dow since August 2011. The S&P 500 closed down 3.9% and Nasdaq lost 3.82% – both ending the day at 10-month lows.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 fell almost 4.5 per cent to 5,914 points. It was the first time the index had dropped below the 6,000 mark since early 2013, with almost all companies in the red.
Germany’s Dax index fell more than almost 5 percent. The French CAC index was also down almost 5 percent.
Asian stocks continued to fall today but the drop was less severe than analysts had feared after yesterday dramatic global sell-off. Japan’s Nikkei 225 took the hardest hit in the region, down by 3 per cent.
South Korea’s Kospi was down by 0.5 per cent, while in Australia, the S&P ASX/200 index slipped 0.8 per cent lower this morning.
China’s major stock indexes sank more than 6 percent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite Index lost 6.4 percent to 3,004 points. Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.6 percent.