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SHANGHAI: China's major stock indexes fell the most in more than two months on Wednesday, with the Shanghai Composite Index hitting a 19-month closing low, amid a global selloff provoked by the political crisis in Italy and renewed U.S.-China trade war fears.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 2.1 per cent, to 3,723.37, while the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.5 per cent to 3,041.44 points, its lowest close since October 2016.
Both indexes posted their biggest single-day drop since March 23.
Around 200 stocks plunged the maximum allowed 10 per cent, as investors dumped shares across the board.
Investors fear that repeat elections in the euro zone's third-largest economy - which could come as soon as July - may become a de-facto referendum on Italian membership of the currency bloc and the country's role in the European Union.
Adding to pressure were worries over trade tensions between China and the United States.
The United States said on Tuesday that it would continue pursuing actions on trade with China, days after Washington and Beijing announced a tentative solution to their dispute and suggested that tensions had cooled.
China's state media on Wednesday lashed into a U.S.
announcement that it would press ahead with restrictions on investment by Chinese companies, saying Beijing was ready to fight back if Washington was looking to ignite a trade war.
Trade frictions pose a risk for China's economy, an official from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday.
"The U.S.
persistence in pursuing trade actions against China is quite surprising after the two countries issued a joint statement (regarding trade consultations)," CITIC Securities wrote in a report.
The short-term uncertainties would rise and sentiment in the A-share market could be curbed, the brokerage added.
Noting the continued weakness in China's banking shares, the brokerage said that to some extent reflected investors' pessimistic expectations about the quality of those lenders' assets amid credit risks in a wave of bond defaults.
An index tracking major lenders on the mainland skid 2 per cent to a 10-month low, marking its seventh straight session of fall.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.35 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1.52 per cent.
At 07:00 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.4307 per U.S.
dollar, 0.24 per cent weaker than the previous close of 6.415.
The largest per centage gainers on the main Shanghai Composite index were Xinjiang Sayram Modern Agriculture Co Ltd up 10.08 per cent, followed by BanBao Co Ltd gaining 10.01 per cent and Great-Sun Foods Co Ltd up by 10 per cent.
The largest per centage losers on the Shanghai index were Zhejiang Zomax Transmission Co Ltd down 10.04 per cent, followed by Clenergy Xiamen Technology Co Ltd losing 10.03 per cent and Xinjiang Bai Hua Cun Co Ltd down by 10.02 per cent.
As of 07:01 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 19.42 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
