China Stocks Extend $3 Trillion Loss, Amidst Government Rescue Efforts
Chinese stock market extended its $3 trillion rout, with the the Shanghai Composite Index dropping 1.5 percent to its lowest close since November 2014. The index has declined 19% in the past six months.
Consumer companies’ stocks suffered the biggest losses, following declining demand for appliances and automobiles last month. Add to that heightened trade tensions between the U.S. and China as both nations engaged in a tariff-slapping spree on each others’ goods. The yuan’s decline, too, is apparently in the eye of the storm with respect to trade relations.
The recent weeks' stock market rout in China has propelled its government to step in to curb further losses. The government is asking insurers to invest in listed corporations in order to mitigate liquidity risks linked to the companies' pledging of shares to secure loans - the China Securities Journal reported on Saturday, citing a senior official with the banking and insurance regulator. Also, several companies will be supported by the tens of billions of yuan from the local government of Shenzhen to improve their shares' liquidity and lower share-pledged risks, according to the Shanghai Securities News (as reported by Bloomberg).
