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Shanghai stocks slump, defying bounce in Asian shares

But Asian bourses cast off heavy early falls Tuesday to post gains by late morning/AFP

But Asian bourses cast off heavy early falls Tuesday to post gains by late morning/AFP

SHANGHAI, China, Aug 25 – Shanghai stocks tumbled on Tuesday, extending the worst daily plunge for eight years after worries about China’s faltering economy sent world financial markets reeling, but other Asian markets bounced back from heavy early losses.

A slump in Chinese shares sparked panic across global markets on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York initially diving more than 1,000 points, or six percent, before trimming its losses, while European stocks fell sharply.

The dollar and commodity prices plumbed fresh multi-year lows in New York, with US oil finishing below $40 a barrel for the first time in six years as fears of a global slowdown hit commodity markets.

But Asian bourses cast off heavy early falls Tuesday to post gains by late morning, with Tokyo up 1.10 percent by the break after closing at a six-month low in the previous session.

Hong Kong was 1.62 percent higher by the break while Sydney added 2.30 percent, Seoul climbed 1.32 percent and oil led a recovery among commodities as dealers took a breather after Monday’s rout.

“Our bottom line is that the world’s still not a bad place,” David McDonald of Credit Suisse told Bloomberg News.

“It’s just a case of whether you would want to rush in now or perhaps wait until it settles down a bit more.”

China’s benchmark index in Shanghai opened down 6.41 percent before recovering slightly to stand 4.33 percent off by the break.

Slowing growth in Asia’s largest economy has long kept investors on edge but China’s shock devaluation of the yuan two weeks ago, following a string of weak economic data, has riled world markets.

Fears Beijing could taper a massive share market rescue package helped push Shanghai down 8.49 percent on Monday, wiping out the year’s gains in its biggest daily slump since February 2007.

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Capital Economics said investors had been “overreacting about economic risks in China”, arguing that the “the collapse of the equity bubble tells us next to nothing about the state of China’s economy”.

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