(VOVworld) – Instabilities in the Chinese securities market and escalating tension in the Middle East have affected the global stock market.

Chinese stocks slumped 7 percent within 30 minutes last week triggering the second emergency market closure during the first week of 2016. The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange had to stop their trading. Although the People’s Bank of China spent 20 billion USD to support the Yuan, China’s stock market continued its downfall, creating 2 automatic circuit breakers. It was the first time that China’s stock market applied the circuit breaker mechanism.

China’s stock market plunge was attributed to the People’s Bank of China’s decision to reduce the exchange rate between the Yuan and the US dollar to its lowest level since April, 2011. It was also the biggest devaluation of the Yuan since a similar move that shocked the world market in August, 2015. Signs of China’s slow economic growth have affected investors’ psychology. Analysts say the Chinese government’s market intervention has been counterproductive and has created chaos. This intervention may have supported stock prices but failed to create solid assurances for investors.

Developments in the Chinese stock market have triggered share selling in Europe and America. Although the US Department of Labor reported on January 8 that by December, 2015, 292,000 new jobs had been created, this impressive figure failed to save Wall Street. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell approximately 6%. This was the worst week of the US stock exchange in 4 years. The declining share value on the US stock market  is partly due to instabilities in the Chinese stock market and the record low oil price in 12 years.

In Europe, the FTSE first 300 index declined 6.7% in the first week of the new year. British FTSE-100 lost 5.3%, French CAC 40 lost 6.5%, and German DAX 30 lost 8.3%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 7%. Approximately 2.5 trillion USD vaporized on the world stock market.