(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The biggest rout in Chinese shares in eight years stoked concerns yesterday over slowing growth in the world's No. 2 economy, knocking down global equities and the prices of key commodities.
The dollar eased on safety bidding for other major currencies. The euro topped $1.11 for the first time in two weeks, boosted further by strong German business sentiment data.
Wall Street was down on worries over China's slowing growth, crystallised by a stunning 8.5 percent fall in shares in Shanghai that also rattled equity markets in Europe and Asia.
China's top securities regulator quickly said the government would continue to buy shares to stabilise the stock market as an unprecedented rescue plan already in place appeared to be sputtering.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 123.2 points, or 0.7 percent, to 17,445.33, the S&P 500 fell 9.71 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,069.94 and the Nasdaq Composite gave up 40.79 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,047.84.
Eight of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower.
Share indices in Frankfurt and Paris tumbled more than 2.5 percent , while London's FTSE 100 ended down 1.13 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.7 percent.
Traders and investors said the declines largely came on concerns over sluggish global economic growth triggered by the Chinese equity slump.
Both copper, for which Chinese demand is an important driver, and the broader Thomson Reuters CRB commodities index hit their lowest levels in six years. Copper futures fell another 1 percent.
Crude oil futures hit four-month lows after a steep drop in China's stock markets spread concerns about the economic health of the world's biggest energy consumer, amid evidence of a growing crude glut.
Oil was also pressured by the sharp increase in US drilling activity last week, after data on Friday showed producers adding 21 rigs, the most in over a year, suggesting a ramp up in output as crude futures recovered from six-year lows seen in the first quarter.
A weaker dollar cushioned some of the losses in oil though, as crude and other commodities denominated in the greenback saw higher demand from users of the euro.
Brent crude oil was down 95 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $53.67 a barrel by 1535 GMT. It hit $53.33 earlier, its lowest since late March.
US crude slipped 55 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $47.59, after hitting $47.20, its lowest since April 1.
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