【英语财经】中国股市再现暴跌 Chinese shares fall 6% to 13-month low

A wild afternoon session for Chinese stocks saw the major benchmarks on the mainland close more than 6 per cent lower on Tuesday.

The Shanghai Composite ended 6.4 per cent lower, and at its lowest point since early December 2014, writes Peter Wells in Hong Kong.

It was the biggest one-day drop since a 7 per cent fall on January 7, when newly introduced circuit breakers were triggered and caused the whole market to be shut in less than 30 minutes of trade. The unsuccessful circuit breakers were scrapped after that, having been used twice in their four days of operation.

The tech-focused Shenzhen Composite ended 7.1 per cent lower, also its biggest drop since January 7, and at the lowest level since September 30. Unlike the Shanghai benchmark, Shenzhen stocks have yet to weaken below their lows during last summer’s violent sell-off that saw the main Chinese indices lose almost half their value in the space of three months.

The CSI 300, an index tracking the top 300 blue chips on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, ended 6 per cent lower.

Also notable was a sharp strengthening in the offshore renminbi after the close of the mainland sharemarket. The currency rate, CNH – which is traded outside the mainland (mainly Hong Kong) and is not subject to a trading band – had weakened by as much as 0.16 per cent through today’s session. But right after the sharemarket closed, it recouped all its declines to be flat at Rmb6.6108 per dollar.

The onshore renminbi, CNY, was flat in afternoon trade at Rmb6.5796. CNY, which is traded on the mainland, is allowed to trade 2 per cent either side of reference rate that is set each morning by the People’s Bank of China.

A period of weaker fixings for the renminbi reference rate earlier this year triggered a global sell-off that saw markets have arguably their worst start to a calendar year on record. Subsequently, the central bank has tried to keep the reference rate basically stable, and continued that trend by setting the “fix” at Rmb6.5548.

Asian sharemarkets were broadly lower, tracking a retracement in the price of oil, which slipped to less than $30 a barrel during trade today.

Oil and Chinese markets both took a turn south during the afternoon session, but it is clear mainland shares fared worse than other regional benchmarks. Japan’s Nikkei ended 2.4 per cent lower and Korea’s Kospi was down 1.2 per cent.

The Hang Seng’s decline was mild in comparison, down 2.3 per cent in late trade, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, was off by 3.5 per cent.

中国股市周二午盘上演疯狂行情，主要股指收跌逾6%。

上证综指收跌6.4%，跌至2014年12月初以来的低点。

这是自1月7日上证综指收跌7%以来的最大单日跌幅。1月7日，推出不久的熔断机制被触发，导致整个市场开盘不到30分钟就被迫休市。后来，这个不成功的熔断机制被当局暂停。

科技股云集的深证综指收跌7.1%（也是自1月7日以来的最大单日跌幅），跌至去年9月30日以来的低点。与上证综指不同，深证综指尚未跌破去年夏天股灾期间触及的低点——当时，中国主要股指的市值在3个月的时间里蒸发了近一半。

追踪沪深两市最大的300只蓝筹股的沪深300指数(CSI 300)收跌6%。

同样值得关注的是，离岸人民币汇率(CNH)在中国内地股市收盘后大幅走高。在今日股市交易期间，离岸人民币汇率跌幅一度达0.16%。但在股市收盘后，离岸人民币汇率立刻收复全部失地，回到1美元兑6.6108元人民币的原点。离岸人民币汇率在中国内地以外（主要是香港）交易，不受交易区间限制。

香港恒生指数跌幅较为温和，尾盘下跌2.3%，而追踪在港上市内地企业股价的恒生国企指数(Hang Seng China Enterprises Index)下跌3.5%。

译者/梁艳裳