Trading on the Chinese stock market has been suspended today for the second time this week after the market plunged by 7% half an hour after it opened.
The CSI 300, a market index that trades in Shanghai and Shenzhen, nose-dived, triggering a circuit-breaker policy implemented by Chinese authorities to tame the volatile markets.
The circuit breaker usually calls for a 15-minute pause in trading if the CSI 300 falls by 5% within 30 minutes.
But today the drop was so fast that before the mechanism could take effect, the market reached the 7% limit that ends trading for the day.
The measure was introduced after a series of major falls last summer and has been expected to be a rare occurrence.
However the circuit-breaker being triggered twice in the first four days of trading in 2016 will raise concerns for the outlook for the global economy, which is increasingly impacted by the world’s second-largest economy.
The summer volatility caused a brief pause in London prime office markets as investors contemplated the impact of diminished Chinese appetite for trophy buildings.
