Chinese stocks slump on first trading day of 2025

Chinese stocks suffered in the new year from their worst first day of trading since 2016, despite a state stimulus package

China flag and stock market indicators - concept of Chinese economic trends
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Chinese shares rose 15% in 2024 for their first annual gain since 2020, says Bloomberg News. But “sentiment remains fragile”, with the CSI 300 index enduring its worst first trading day of a new year since 2016. Most of last year’s equity gains came following a “late September stimulus blitz”. Yet since then trading has been “range-bound” as investors wait for official announcements of more economic stimulus.

Why are Chinese stocks tumbling?

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.