At the start of trading, the Shanghai Composite Index opened down 2 percent, briefly falling below 3,000 points before recovering to 3 percent higher. In the last hour of trading, Chinese stocks collapsed, dragging most of Asia’s markets down with them.
“The seemingly endless issues confronting global markets remind us too much of the good old arcade game of Whack-A-Mole. Even as one problem retreats, another one seems to be lurking around and ready to spring up,” Wellian Wiranto, an economist at Singapore’s OCBC bank, said in a research note.
Japan’s Nikkei managed to finish 3.2 percent higher, but it was a mixed performance on the Asian markets.
The Hang Seng finished down 1.52 percent in Hong Kong.
Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries closed up 0.68 percent, while India’s Mumbai Sensex, which is still open, is down 0.29 percent.
Taiwan’s TSEC 50 Index Taiwan closed up 0.52 percent.
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Beijing’s measures have so far proven insufficient to stabilize markets. In mid-August, China devalued the yuan to boost the country’s faltering exports, but on Tuesday, the government announced a fifth interest rate cut since November.
China’s stocks are now down more than 23 percent since last Wednesday and over 43 percent down since their June peak.