Weak economic data caused Chinese stock markets to fall over 7 percent this morning, leading to the market’s first reactive suspension of trading.

The markets were closed around 90 minutes before normal close of trade, with the Shanghai Composite ending down 6.9 percent and the CSI300 index down 7 percent. The technology heavy Shenzhen Composite was the worst hit, falling by over 8 percent.

Monday’s early close was the first example of new ‘circuit-breakers’ coming into effect, a control announced byt he government last year designed to curb volatility. A 15 minute trading suspension is triggered id the CSI300 falls by over 5 percent.

The slide was triggered by the release of further poor economic data from a private company, coming just after the Caixin/Markit PMI survey sent China’s manufacturing figure down to 48.2 in December, its tenth month of contraction.

04/01/2016