China's stock market is now worst in world

Four years after China's growth helped lead the global economy out of a recession and won the admiration of luminaries from billionaire George Soros to Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, the nation's stock market has lost more money for investors than any other in the world.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which doubled in the 10 months to August 2009 as the government poured US$652 billion of stimulus into building roads, railways and housing, has tumbled 43 per cent from its high, destroying US$748 billion in market value.

Only Greece's ASE Index has fallen more in percentage terms. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the benchmark gauge of American equity, erased all of the losses from the worst recession since the Depression and has gained 68 per cent since the China peak, reaching a record this month.

China looked unbeatable in 2009, surpassing Germany as the world's third-largest economy and growing 6 per cent in the first quarter while the US shrank 4 per cent.

Templeton Emerging Markets Group executive chairman Mark Mobius said in July 2009 that China's stock market could be larger than its US counterpart in three years.

Now, China is poised for the weakest expansion since 1990 as the government orders more than 1,400 companies to close factories.