Listed companies in China's stock exchanges that have halted trading have doubled to no less than 1,301 on early Wednesday to stave off further losses.
To lock up $2.6 trillion of shares in Shanghai, Shenzhen and even in Hong Kong, companies have opted to stop trading while the China central bank tries to provide liquidity and the China Securities Finance Corp. seeks some 500 billion yuan ($80.5 billion) in fresh liquidity, Bloomberg reported.
Hong Kong-based asset-management director at Ample Capital Ltd. Alex Wong told Bloomberg that Chinese authorities' interference "did not stabilize the market, but even created panic."
Wong noted that investors are now on the move to reduce exposure, raise cash and are staying away from the markets in the meantime.
Thus, the sell-off of both small and big caps resulted to the China's stocks' four-month low, while nearly half of Chinese listed companies have halted trading to insulate themselves from the crash, Reuters said as featured on Yahoo News.
The Shanghai Composite Index opened 7 percent lower, but erased some of the losses by midday, down 3.9 percent. The CSI300 Index of China's biggest companies dropped 4.8 percent, according to Reuters.
On Wednesday, more than 500 China-listed firms announced trading halts, bringing the total number to around 1,300, almost half of China's roughly 2,800 "A share" listed companies.
China's state media announced on Monday that part of the state government's plan is to force pause any intention for an initial public offering and a scheme that would bleed brokerage houses close to $20 billion to shore up the market to cover the losses had been received negatively by investors, according to CNN.
