Interest rate worries send markets spiraling

China’s CSI 300 Index, which tracks renminbi-denominated shares traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, fell 6.5% to 3,536.33 points on April 14, Bloomberg reported. The fall represented the CSI 300’s sharpest drop since January 28, and the close was a 10-month low. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 5.62%, the most in 10 weeks, to 3,296.67 points. The declines came after People’s Bank of China (PBOC) chief Zhou Xiaochuan said over the weekend that the government would continue to pursue a tighter monetary policy, which may include further interest rate hikes to combat inflation. PBOC’s Vice Governor Liu Shiyu said earlier that consumer prices in China climbed an estimated 8.3% in March.