Global stock markets kicked off September on a downbeat note, extending their declines into a fifth day as weak Chinese data and new Covid-19 lockdowns in the world’s second-largest economy weighed on sentiment.
A FTSE gauge of worldwide shares lost 0.6 per cent on Thursday, having closed the previous session down by the same margin. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 gauge fell 0.8 per cent in early dealings, while futures contracts tracking Wall Street’s broad S&P 500 slipped 0.7 per cent after the gauge fell 0.8 per cent on Wednesday.
In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 2 per cent and mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.8 per cent after Chinese authorities moved to lock down the south-western megacity of Chengdu as they stuck to the country’s zero-Covid policy.
A survey of manufacturers in China also came in worse than expected, with the Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index registering a reading of…
