Chinese stock market crash sends waves round world

A CHINESE stock crash sent share prices tumbling across the world on Monday (August 24), as fears for the world’s powerhouse economy rocked European and American markets. 

The Shanghai Composite Index dropped nearly 8.5 per cent, its biggest fall in a single day since 2007, with analysts calling it a Chinese Black Monday. 

The crash is compounding fears that the country’s economy is slowing faster than previously thought, following the devaluation of the currency – the yuan – two weeks ago.

As markets across the world opened up, the tremors were felt, all feeling their worst days since the depth of the world economic crisis. By lunchtime the UK´s FTSE 100 was trading at 4.8 per cent lower than it opened, the markets in France dropping 6.8 per cent and in Germany 5.6 per cent. American markets too were experiencing significant hits when they opened at 3.30pm Central European time. 

Stocks in mining have been particularly hard hit by the uncertainty around China’s economy.