Stock markets around the world posted steep losses on Tuesday, one day after China’s leaders cut the country’s official growth rate to 7.5% from 8%, the South China Morning Post reported. Hong Kong’s stock market fell 2.2% to 20,806.25 on the most active day of trading in over a year. The S&P Asia ex-Japan 200 index fell 1.37% to 4,204.73, and mainland China’s CSI 300 index fell 1.56% to 2,621. In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell over 200 points – about 1.57% – to 12,759.15; the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices posted similar losses. Analysts say the sell-offs are due in part to Beijing’s official 7.5% growth forecast, announced at earlier this week at China’s annual congressional meeting. “The market interprets it as a signal that it’s time to sell and crystallize profits,” said Patrick Ho, an analyst at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
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