China Stock Market Crash by the Numbers

By Diane Alter, Contributing Writer, Money Morning • July 27, 2015

Today's China stock market crash was the sharpest one-day decline in eight years. The dip occurred amid mounting worries that authorities are stepping away from measures to prop up the market.

The Shanghai Composite Index plunged a punishing 8.5% Monday to finish at 3,725.56.

The Shanghai Composite is now down 28% from highs hit on June 12, dropping the index into a bear market. A bear market is defined as a decline of 20% or more.

Monday's rout came on the heels of a government recuse package that ignited a 16% rally since July 8. Over the last month, the Chinese government has implemented at least 40 measures aimed at buoying China's stock market.

An article published Thursday in People's Daily, the Communist Party's leading newspaper, suggested China's government is indeed prepared to step in and cushion the country's stock market should more severe volatility continue.

Additional state support is expected in the next day or two.

Policy makers in the Asian nation still have additional measures they can implement to support equities, Yang Delong, chief strategist at China Southern Fund Management, told Bloomberg. He added that state-linked firms will probably start buying when the Shanghai Composite falls below 3,800 - which it did Monday.

Here's a look at some key numbers from the China stock market crash on Monday...

China's Stock Market Crash in Numbers

• The Shanghai Composite Index finished Monday's session down 8.5% at 3,725.56.
• Monday's decline marked the second-consecutive day of losses and was the worst daily percentage fall since Feb. 27, 2007.
• The 8.5% swoon in China's stock market is the equivalent to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 1,500 in a day.
• Shanghai stocks had gained roughly 150% over 12 months prior to the crash.
• The selling marked the 13th time in 16 days that China's stock market fell.
• The smaller Shenzhen Composite gave back 7% to hit 2,160.09.
• The small-cap ChiNext closed down 7.4% at 2,683.45.
• The CSI 300 Index of the largest-listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen tumbled 8.6% to 3,818.73 points.
• More than 1,500 shares listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen dived by their 10% daily limit, led by index heavyweights including China Unicom, Bank of Communications, and PetroChina.

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• Stocks fell across the board on Monday. Some 2,247 companies ended lower, leaving only 77 with gains.
• All traded index futures contracts fell by their maximum 10% limit with the exception of a few tracking the large cap SSE 50 Index, which declined around 9%.
• More than 90 million individual Chinese investors watched in panic as their previous gains were wiped out.
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 3.1%.
• Japan's Nikkei Stock Average slipped 1%.
• South Korea's Kospi slid 0.4%.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down triple digits, off 147.65, or 0.84%, at 17,420.64 in early afternoon trading.
• Safe-haven gold, which rose to $1,160.40 an ounce intraday, was little changed at $1,099 shortly after noon.

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Related Articles:

• Bloomberg: After Quick 8.5% Crash, Confusion Reigns in China's Stock Market
• The Wall Street Journal: China Stocks Suffers Sharpest Daily Fall Since 2007