Poor exports data leads Chinese shares to fall sharply
Meanwhile, ECB president Mario Draghi says the European economy is in ‘a period of continued weakness and pervasive uncertainty’ as he offered banks a new round of cheap loans
London — Chinese shares were more than 4% lower on Friday after data showed exports contracting by a fifth, deepening fears for the world economy and pushing global equities to three-week troughs. The February data, well below expectations of a 4.8% drop, worsened the brittle mood on world markets, following the European Central Bank's announcement slashing growth forecasts and unveiling a new round of policy stimulus. While the timing of the lunar new year made it difficult to draw a true signal from the China data noise, the scale was alarming, especially when coupled with sombre new data from Germany and Norway. Chinese stocks plunged more than 4% in their worst day in five months while Japan's Nikkei closed 2% lower. The dark mood spilt into European stock markets where the Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.5%, poised for the first weekly drop in a month. "The trade data from China is a big part of it," said Fiera Capital's co-chief investment officer Julian Mayo. "Our own view is that ...
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