Since the start of the year, it lost 25 per cent. Shenzhen is down by 33.2 per cent. The US-China trade war and deleveraging are the main reasons. All sectors have been affected: manufacturing and consumer spending as well as healthcare. Tokyo ousts Shanghai as the world’s second largest stock exchange.

Shanghai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is almost a quarter below where it started this year, making it the worst-performing major stock market in the world. Together with its smaller sister in Shenzhen, it shaved some US$ 2.4 trillion off China’s market value this year.

The data, by Caixin from Bloomberg sources, show that the Shanghai composite lost at least 25 per cent since the start of the year whilst Shenzhen lost 33.2 per cent.

The trade war between China and the United States and deleveraging are the main causes.

No sector was safe. Manufacturing and consumer spending were down as a result of the weak economy. The healthcare sector also contracted following a number of scandals.

The drop is similar to what the Shanghai exchange experienced in 2008 during the subprime crisis, when the composite index lost 65 per cent.

With such losses, China ceded its place as the world’s second-biggest stock market to Japan earlier this year.