Well, that’s it, kids: we’re heading home. Chinese shares are down 7 per cent, and thanks to the newly-instituted market circuit breakers, that means the market shuts.
The CSI 300, which consists of 300 of the top A-shares traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, is down 7 per cent and will be shut for the remainder of the day.
In early December, authorities announced that market circuit breakers would be introduced become effective from January 1 in an effort to limit the volatility seen during the savage, summer sell-off from June. The circuit breakers would see trading in shares, options and futures halted for 15 minutes if they fell by more than 5 per cent. On their first day of use, that first threshold was breached just after the return from the lunchbreak, prompting a 15-minute halt.