China stock market starts year with steep declines, halting trade
According to media reports, trading on China’s stock market was closed at 1:34pm local time following a 7% drop in the CSI 300 index, according to data released by Bloomberg. Earlier today, trading was halted for 15 minutes when the CSI 300 index declined 5%. The halts took place according to regulations designed to stabilize China’s financial markets by putting caps on maximum daily volatility.
The CSI 300 index is comprised of large companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The fall in the index was attributed to a fifth consecutive decrease in the country’s manufacturing PMI in December and investors’ expectations that a ban on share sales by major stakeholders will be lifted by the end of this week.