Asian stocks
continued to tumble, sparked by a
big down day on Wall Street and hints the International Monetary Fund (IMF) won't add the yuan to its basket of reserve currencies for at least one year. China's Shanghai Composite was the worst off, dropping 3.4% despite attempts to stop the bleeding by the China Securities Finance Corporation, which continued its equity-buying campaign.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.8% to enter bear market territory -- down more than 20% from its April highs -- and Japan's Nikkei slid 0.9% on weakness in commodity stocks and exporters. South Korea's Kospi settled 1.3% lower for a fourth straight loss, as the country's exchange of fire with North Korea along the western sea border captured global attention.
European bourses are seeing red, as traders
digest the latest Fed minutes and the ongoing sell-off in China. London's FTSE 100 is off 0.6%, despite a bounceback in retail sales last month. Meanwhile, the German DAX and French CAC 40 are down 1% and 1.3%, respectively.
