China ups the ante as stocks plunge

Chinese authorities stepped up efforts to halt a slide in stocks as a fresh wave of share suspensions left half the market frozen.

Stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell again on Wednesday despite the country’s central bank coming up with fresh measures to stem the losses.

The selloff has seen Chinese equities shed more than 30 per cent of their value since mid-June. Share suspensions have hit around half of all listed companies on China’s two main exchanges, freezing around $2.6 trillion in equity, according to Bloomberg figures.

Negative sentiment pointed to a sharp fall for US stocks on the open later in New York, but it failed to extend into European markets.

Hopes of a bailout deal for Greece lifted stocks in London, Frankfurt and Paris. The FTSE 100 and DAX were up around 0.4 per cent, while France’s CAC rose 0.6 per cent in early trading.

European nations gave Greece until Sunday to submit a final reform plan, with European Council president Donald Tusk saying it was now the "most critical moment in the history of the eurozone".

The euro held firm versus the dollar around the 1.10 handle, while the greenback was up against sterling, with GBP/USD hovering above the 1.54 level.

Investors in the UK were looking towards the government’s new Budget, while minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting were also being awaited in anticipation of fresh clues as to when the US central bank will hike rates.

In commodities, gold was trading around a four-month low. US WTI oil futures declined below $52 a barrel ahead of a report likely to show US inventories fell last week.