Suffice to say China’s ongoing efforts to jawbone markets higher fell on deaf ears Tuesday.
After a rousing rally sent mainland shares surging by the most since March 2016 to start the week, Chinese shares tumbled with other regional benchmarks amid souring sentiment and geopolitical angst.
The Shanghai Composite dove 2.3% on Tuesday, erasing more than half of Monday’s rally. Judging by the fact that losses accelerated in the latter half of the day, the National Team was either absent or ineffective.
Tuesday’s dour mood came even as officials promised more support for the market, including PBoC financing aimed at supporting private company debt and a broker-assisted scheme to help mitigate the risk associated with margin calls on pledged-share deals.
In Hong Kong, Tuesday was the fourth worst day for the year for the Hang Seng.
The malaise was by no means confined to China. Japanese shares had their fourth worst day of 2018 as well, with the Topix down some 2.6%.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index is on the precipice of a bear market and 10-day historical volatility there is pushing up against the highest levels of the year amid the October tumult.
Markets were also sharply lower in South Korea and Taiwan.
One thing I would note right off the bat on Tuesday morning, is that European tech is getting crushed, down 4%. This would be the second-worst day of 2018 for the SX8P on a closing basis.
