China's benchmark CSI 300 index entered bear-market territory on Thursday after falling more than 1% in the session to stand 20% below its June peak, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC. The index, which tracks 300 of the largest shares listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, has now fallen for 10 straight weeks — a record losing run — and was down 2.6% this week alone.

Source: CNBC via LSEG data

Reports put the value wiped off Chinese equities in the selloff at about $2.4 trillion. Yaani: $2.4 trillion is about 2,400 billion dollars — roughly 2.4 lakh crore dollars in South Asian counting terms.

Selling spread across Asia on Thursday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.10%, South Korea's Kospi fell 3.52% and Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.65% in the session reported by ShareCast via TradingView, while the Hang Seng Tech index fell as much as 5.3%, according to market reports.

Source: TradingView / ShareCast

Analysts cited by CNBC and Bloomberg pointed to weak corporate profit growth, intense competition squeezing margins, China's slowest second-quarter growth in more than three years, a prolonged property-sector slowdown and weak consumer demand. September saw China's weakest industrial profit growth this year, according to the reports.

State-backed buying has not stopped the slide. Reports said Central Huijin raised about $231 billion through exchange-traded fund sales in the first half of the year and has reinvested an estimated $43 billion since July, while sovereign wealth funds invested $14.2 billion in mainland China and Hong Kong through September, according to Global SWF data cited in market coverage. Yaani: $43 billion is about 43 arab dollars — a large support effort that still did not reverse the fall.

Source: CoinCodex market report

20%fall from June peak
10 weeksstraight weekly losses
$2.4 trillionvalue wiped off in selloff
What a bear market means

A market is described as being in bear territory when it has fallen 20% or more from a recent peak. It is a description of the fall, not a forecast that prices will keep falling.

What is solid

  • The CSI 300 fell 20% from its June peak and has fallen for 10 straight weeks, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC.
  • Selling also hit Hong Kong, South Korean and Japanese shares on Thursday.

What is only claimed

  • Analysts disagree on whether state-backed buying and further policy support can reverse the decline without broader measures to lift household spending and earnings.