Shanghai stocks' one-day fall of 8.5% leaves investors dazed

The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 8.5% on Monday, its biggest one-day fall since 2007, Bloomberg reported. The sudden drop after weeks of government-backed gains caught many off-guard, and the reasons behind it remain unclear. Investors “are concerned and lost,” said Alex Wong, a Hong Kong-based asset-management director at Ample Capital Ltd. “China’s market is distorted, so you can’t sell short very confidently and you can’t buy up very confidently either.” Foreign investors have unloaded roughly US$7.6 billion in Shanghai-listed shares since July 6. Reuters reported the China Securities Regulatory Commission also announced on Monday it would continue to buy shares to stabilize the market.