Shanghai stocks plummet around 10 percent, the biggest weekly fall in two years

Losses on the China stock markets widened on Friday after the big crash on Wall Street, which sent the benchmark index to its biggest weekly loss of the past two years.

The Shanghai Composite Index, the country’s major benchmark, plunged 4.05 percent or 132.20 points to a new low of 3,129.85 today, following the big fall of 1,032.89 points of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Shanghai gauge has been down around 10 percent this week, triggered mainly by sell-offs on major markets around the world.

Shares lost their ground broadly, with brokers, coal companies and cement makers being the leading losers.

Citic Securities, the largest brokerage in China, dived 9.82 percent to close at 17.35 yuan (US$2.73) per share on Friday.

Datong Coal Mine Group saw its share drop 10 percent to close at 5.94 yuan per share while Gansu Salfo Cement also fell by the daily ceiling of 10 percent to close at 10.88 yuan per share.

The Shenzhen Component Index shed 3.58 percent to 10,001.23, and the Nasdaq-style ChiNext enterprise board decreased by 2.98 percent to 1,592.51.

While the A-share market is currently facing multiple short-term disturbances, the impact will be more on the emotional side, according to Everbright Securities, which said liquidity and fundamentals are still supporting the market.