China’s power crisis spreads pain in stock market, deflates hopes for winter stimulus kick

China’s power crisis and a spike in global energy prices in recent weeks are spreading the pain across the stock market, with investors bracing for more fallout. A long winter lies ahead as analysts see the crunch lasting through next year.

While an MSCI gauge of firms ranging from oil and coal producers to clean-energy firms has surged 14 per cent since early September, investors could face a wider fallout from factory shutdown and weaker demand for industrial metals to add to the ongoing clampdown in the property and financial sectors.