Chinese stocks dived on Wednesday, as the country's securities regulator warned investors were in the grip of "panic sentiment" and the market showed signs of freezing up as companies scrambled to escape the rout by having their shares suspended.
Beijing, which has struggled for more than a week to bend the market to its will, unveiled yet another battery of measures to arrest the sell-off, and the People's Bank of China said it would step up support to brokerages enlisted to prop up shares.
"I've never seen this kind of slump before. I don't think anyone has. Liquidity is totally depleted," said Du Changchun, an analyst at Northeast Securities.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.