Unsettling news from China set the scene for a sharp rise in risk aversion yesterday, with emerging market assets and commodities bearing the brunt of the selling.
Reports that China's two biggest state-owned commercial banks would cut new lending sharply in the second half of the year triggered concerns that both the country's economic recovery and its surging stock market could come under threat.
Chinese banks lent a record Rmb7,400bn in the first half, three times the amount offered in the same period a year earlier, after Beijing dropped lending restrictions as part of its economic stimulus package. About a fifth of these loans are believed to have been used to buy shares.