SINGAPORE - Asian stocks were knocked about on Monday (July 27) as a renewed selldown gripped the Chinese market.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index plunged 8.48 per cent - its biggest fall in eight years - amid growing concerns over China's economic slowdown.
The country's statistics bureau on Monday turned in a disappointing 0.3 per cent drop in industrial profits from the year before, after preliminary figures on Friday showed its manufacturing sector slumped to its lowest in 15 months for the month of July.
The sell-off in the Chinese market marks a blow to policymakers who had enacted a series of measures to stem a US$4 trillion (S$5.4 trillion) rout that ran for a month through mid- July.
"A rapid, post-rout rebound in mainland 'A' shares has ended, and the market has entered a stage of fluctuations, with investor sentiment increasingly unsteady," said fund manager Yang Delong at China Southern Asset Management in a note.
Equities elsewhere in the region were little spared from China's tumble. Hong Kong fell 3.09 per cent, while Japan shaved off 0.95 per cent.
At home, the Straits Times Index slid 1.17 per cent, or 39.23 points, to 3,313.42.
The day's losses were led by blue chip heavyweights such as Singapore Exchange, which sank 32 cents to S$8.21, as well as DBS Group, which dropped 32 cents to S$21.08.
This was even as the banking group posted a strong set of second-quarter earnings - a 15 per cent jump in net income to S$1.12 billion - before the market opened.
But the stock's fall-off follows a gradual build-up over the last two weeks.
A Nomura report noted that the group's performance was "ahead of market and (its) estimates".
Commodities giant Noble Group lost 1.5 cents to 62 Singapore cents amid a global commodity rout. It announced a $11.3 millionshare buyback on Monday morning.
Agri-business group Olam International, on the other hand, was among the day's few gainers, climbing one cent to S$1.79.
