China ditches circuit breaker after shortest ever trading session

FTSE down below 6,000

China has scrapped its emergency circuit breaker after the system led to trading halts on two separate days this week and the shortest ever trading session.

In Thursday's trading session Chinese equity markets were suspended within half an hour as the circuit breaker, introduced to curb volatility following last August's Black Monday sell-off, kicked in following a 7% drop in the CSI 300. It followed a supension in the country's markets in Monday's New Year trading session, when the Shanghai Composite index also fell 7%. However, the second suspension led to criticism of the circuit breaker mechanism for making losses worse, as investors rushed for the exit as soon as markets opened to avoid a trading halt. The Shanghai Stock Exchange ...