China stocks crash nearly 9% as full markets return, the slump already priced-in?

The Chinese equity markets return on Monday after the extended Lunar New Year holiday break, diving around 8.7% at the open, as the traders play catch up with the mounting coronavirus concerns in China and across the globe.

Amid the latest coronavirus update, “the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide is now 14,557, most of which are in China. This follows last week's emergency warning from the World Health Organization (WHO) ad the data is according to the agency. CNBC reports that the global death toll has risen to at least 304. Reuters reports 350 deaths following 56 new coronavirus deaths in Hubei,” as cited by FXStreet’s Analyst, Ross J Burland.

China’s benchmark index, the Shanghai Composite, re-opened nearly 9% down, gapping to lower to reach 2,716.70, the lowest level since mid-Feb 2019. The index is off the multi-month lows, but still down 7.50% around 2,760 levels, at the time of writing.

The China stocks slump seems to have little impact on the other related markets, leaving the risk sentiment largely unperturbed. This could be possibly due to the pre-emptive measures already rolled out by the Chinese authorities on Sunday. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced to pump 1.2 trillion yuan ($173.8 billion) into the market while it was reported from some sources that China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) had issued a verbal directive to brokerages including Citic Securities Co. and China International Capital Corp. to bar their clients from selling borrowed stocks on Feb. 3.

In additional efforts to counter the negative economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak and spread, the PBOC slashed the interest rate on 7-day reverse repos (RR) to 2.4% from previously at 2.5% and on 14-day RRs to 2.55% vs. 2.65% previous. The PBOC also injected CNY900bn via 7-day RRs and 300bn via 14-day RRs.

On the fx front, The Chinese yuan tumbled to the weakest in five weeks against the greenback, as USD/CNY skyrockets to 6.9945. The cross rallies 0.85% on a daily basis.

The USD/JPY pair extends its rebound above the 108.50 level while S&P 500 futures jump 0.75%. The benchmark US 10-year yields are up 1%, driving the greenback higher across the board. Meanwhile, gold prices are on the back foot below $1590.