Business
World shares sagged on Wednesday as investors feared fresh rate cuts in China may not be enough to stabilize its slowing economy or halt a stocks collapse that is wreaking havoc in global markets, writes Reuters.
Europe's main stock markets, which had surged on Tuesday after China's moves, reopened 2 percent down as the jittery mood returned and sent investors back into safe-haven German and U.S. government bonds.
China's key share indexes had attempted to move higher several times during Asian trading only to be slapped back by waves of selling, reflecting investors' views that much more support was needed from the government and the central bank.
Despite a late struggle, the CSI300 index closed down 0.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended off 1.3 percent for fifth straight day in the red. It followed on from a jarring finish on Wall Street where the S&P 500 slumped more than 3 percent in the last hour.
The CBOE Market Volatility Index was still elevated at 36 on Wednesday, indicating significant uncertainty, even though the "fear index" as it is known was below the previous day's 6-1/2 year peak of 53.3.
"The root of this is concern that growth in China may be a lot lower than what the market had thought," said Michael Bolliger, head of emerging market asset allocation at UBS Wealth Management in Zurich.
"They made further announcements yesterday but the market does not appear fully convinced, it has not distracted people from the fears about the economy."
