China Market falls to four-year low

The Mainland China equity market retreated to four-year low on Thursday, 11 October 2018, as risk aversion selloff triggered on tracking overnight dive in European and US markets overnight amid growing concerns about rising US interest rates, ongoing trade friction between the U.S. and China, and worries over global growth. Most of SSE sectors declined, with shares from oilfield services, communication devices, domestic software and 5G companies have seen the biggest drops across the markets. At closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tanked 5.22%, or 142.22 points, to 2,583.46, meanwhile the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, fell 6.45%, or 89.14 points, to 1,293.90. The blue-chip CSI300 index shed 4.8%, or 157.49 points, to 3,124.11.

Wall Street tumbled on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow marking their biggest daily declines since Feb. 8 as markets were spooked by the prospect of rising interest rates. The fall was driven by a rise in U.S. long-dated Treasury yields, which reinforced expectations of several interest rate hikes over the next 12 months and prompted investors to reassess equity valuations. Over the past few months, an intensifying trade war between the United States and China has also hit risk assets on worries about global growth.

 

A move by Beijing over the weekend to inject more liquidity into the banking system has failed to comfort investors worried about the potential for US President Donald Trump's anti-China rhetoric to widen beyond a trade spat into a cold war. Weak Chinese manufacturing data and a stronger US dollar were also offsetting Beijing's efforts to stabilise the economy by loosening lending requirements, cutting taxes and selling more domestic bonds, traders warned. China's central bank on Sunday continued its loosening stance, cutting the amount of reserves the country's domestic banks must hold by 100 basis points, its fourth reduction in just over a year. Analysts said the move would inject about 750 billion yuan into the local economy.

Telecom and technology shares stumbled, with ZTE Corp. and 360 Security Technology Inc. tumbling more than 9%.

Shares of luxury goods companies fell amid crackdown at Chinese borders on undeclared goods, with Prada SpA tumbling the most in 13 months. Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co. dropped as much as 28% on its trading debut.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar on Thursday amid soft mid-point fixing by central bank and as a global equity sell-off that shrank risk appetites. Prior to market open, the People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.9098 per dollar, weaker than the previous fix of 6.9072. The spot market opened at 6.9307 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.9306, weaker by 66 pips from the previous late session close and 0.3% away from the midpoint.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed mixed on Tuesday, as investors worried about global growth prospects. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 56.21 points or 0.2% to 26,430.57 and the S&P 500 edged down 4.09 points or 0.1% to 2,880.34. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 2.07 points to 7,738.02

The major European markets ended higher on Tuesday. The German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1%.

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