China’s year of adversity costs equity investors US$2 Trillion

HONG KONG: A deluge of misfortunes has left China’s equity investors with their biggest losses in years, wherever you look.

Stung by everything from a national vaccine scandal to a decline in consumer spending, the Trump administration’s crackdown on Chinese tech and Beijing’s tightening grip on education, gaming and drugs, the country’s stock market has lost US$2 trillion in value in 2018. Languishing in a bear market, all 10 industry groups on the CSI 300 Index are on track to drop 10% or more this year, one of the broadest sell-offs since the global financial crisis.