Shares in China slumped overnight as details of economic stimulus plans from officials in Beijing failed to live up to investors’ expectations.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 6.6% down by the end of the session and the The Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange tumbled 8.1%, its sharpest fall since May 1997.
Elsewhere, the Nikkei (^N225) rose 0.9% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 1.4% in Hong Kong. This decline followed a plunge of over 9% on Tuesday, its worst since 2008, as traders sold off shares after recent rallies.
South Korea’s markets were closed for a public holiday.
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said:
“Let’s call it what it is — an abject failure — as Chinese shares opened sharply lower, sending a clear signal that the market is no longer buying half-hearted promises.”
Meanwhile, Yeap Jun Rong of IG added:
“A lack of new stimulus has been the cause of disappointment, with many market participants hoping that its fiscal policies will follow in the footstep of the financial ‘bazooka’ delivered in late-September, but there was clearly a step-down in yesterday’s.”
Across the pond on Wall Street, rises in big tech firms such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL) boosted the main indexes, even though oil and mining stocks pull downwards.
The Dow Jones index (^DJI) rose 0.3% to 42,080.37, the S&P 500 rose 1pc, to 5,751.13, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5pc, to 18,182.92.
The yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes dipped to 4.02pc from 0.1pc late on Monday.