Live | China Markets Live - PBoC devalues yuan; Shanghai, Shenzen and Hong Kong settles lower
At the close, Shanghai loses 1.06 per cent, Shenzhen drops 1.54 per cent and Hong Kong drops 2.38 per cent
Welcome to the SCMP's live markets blog. The intense volatility of recent weeks has every chance of remaining the core underlying theme of activity. Investors are increasingly focused the broader question of how this episode might affect the wider economy as many suspect the equity bubble has yet to fully deflate. We'll bring you the key levels, trading statements, price action and other developments as they happen.
4:08pm: The Hang Seng Index stays below 24,000, closing on 23,916.02, down 2.38 per cent or 582.19 points. The H-shares index picked up slightly at the end but still closed down 1.97 per cent or 221.85 points at 11,042.79.
3:27pm: China indices from opening to closing today: the Shanghai Composite (orange), Shenzhen Composite (green), CSI300 (purple) and ChiNext (blue). Click to enlarge.
3:11pm: The Shanghai Composite Index lost some ground toward the end of the day, closing at 3,886.32, down 41.59 points or 1.06 per cent. The CSI300 traded to 4,016.13, down 50.54 points or 1.24 per cent.
3:11pm: The Shenzhen Composite Index also dropped off in the last hour, closing at 2,249.18, down 35.09 points or 1.54 per cent. The ChiNext Price Index went to 2,622.19, down 76.72 points or 2.84 per cent.
3:08pm: BNP comment on on-shore yuan 2nd day devaluation:
“Another 1.6 per cent effective devaluation in the CNY (on-shore yuan) today appears to confirm both the paradigm shift towards a more market-based forex regime and, implicitly, China’s shift from conscientious objector in the global currency wars to a full-bloodied combatant.
The PBoC’s latest ‘Q&A’ press release seemingly confirms the regime shift with market pricing now determining the daily ‘fix’ and, tellingly, warns that this may ‘lead to potentially significant fluctuation of the central parity in the short run.
China’s dirty peg vs. the US dollar has for many years operated as a regional FX anchor, damping volatility and limiting the headroom for other regional currencies to depreciate against the US dollar.
