China probes automated trading as stocks slip again

Shanghai

CHINA'S securities watchdog is investigating the impact of automated trading on share markets, as the authorities step up a crackdown on what they regard as heavy speculative selling that could destabilise the world's second-largest economy.

China's main share markets, both among the world's five biggest exchanges, have lost around 30 per cent of their value since mid-June, but the authorities have been flailing in efforts over the past three weeks to prevent a further selloff.