Stock rout obliterates mainland market's gains for the year

Mainland Chinese stocks saw their greatest single-day drop since the global financial crisis in 2007 in a rout that even party mouthpiece People’s Daily dubbed “Black Monday”, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Shanghai Composite Index fell about 8.5%, taking the market down 0.8% for the year and leaving it 38% lower than its mid-June peak, when stocks were up 60% for the year after doubling during the previous 12 months. “Compared with the selloff in June and July, when investors still harbored hope of government rescue measures, this time investors are completely despairing, because the previous government stabilization measure have failed,” said Amy Lin, analyst at Capital Securities.