Stock indexes in mainland China and Hong Kong slipped into negative territory, worsening a sell-off already evident in recent sessions.
While Japan ended the session higher, with the Nikkei up 1.70%, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan began trading lower.
The index has come under pressure from weakness in Chinese markets, which hit five-year lows last week and sparked speculation that state funds would support stocks.
Beijing, however, still appears reluctant to provide strong stimulus, with the central bank today once again deciding not to pursue a rate cut in its market operations.
In this context of great uncertainty about the economic fate of the dragon, shares have suffered heavy losses.
The Shanghai index closed the session with a decline of 2.68% and the Shenzhen index closed trading with -3.13%.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong showed -2.73%.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index neared a level not seen since 2005, establishing itself as one of Asia's worst-performing key indexes.
Chinese tech giants, including Meituan and Tencent, were among the biggest drivers of the crash.
read also China Alert, sell-off of shares worth 6,000 billion dollars in 2 years China, the sell-off continues while Wall Street celebrates The continuous sell-off of Chinese shares is in stark contrast to the optimistic sentiment on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 index hit a record Friday for the first time in two years.
The dragon's pessimistic mood worsened when China's commercial lenders kept key lending rates unchanged, a move that followed the central bank's recent decision to keep borrowing costs unchanged.
Such a cautious stance is disappointing investors hoping for more aggressive stimulus.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Marvin Chen commented on the massive stock sell-off in China as a result of a lack of near-term catalysts and outflows into more attractive alternatives in the region.
“Global markets have seen a surge in the chip sector, and this is an area where China and the rest of the world may be running on separate tracks due to geopolitical tensions,” he added.
read also This country is the best to invest in, according to JP Morgan (which rejects China) The collapse of Chinese stocks since the beginning of 2024 was triggered by a mix of factors according to analysts: from the worsening of the real estate collapse to stubborn deflationary pressures, as well as Beijing's reluctance to use aggressive monetary and fiscal measures to revive growth.
Uncertainties about the trajectory of U.S.
interest rates and concerns about tighter regulatory oversight have contributed to the pessimism.
The benefits of monetary easing by the People's Bank of China have already been priced in and "stronger" policies are needed to revive stocks, said Eva Lee, head of Greater China equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.
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