SHANGHAI, June 20 — China’s equity market is only one bad day from losing a title it’s held for almost four years. Following yesterday’s US$406 billion (RM1.62 trillion) wipeout, Chinese stocks have lost more than US$1.6 trillion in market cap since a peak in January.

It would only take another drop of a similar magnitude to make Chinese stocks less valuable than those in Japan, which typically benefits from having a currency that’s often seen as a haven asset in times of market stress.

China has been home to the world’s second-largest equity market since it overtook its Asian neighbor at the end of 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The country’s stocks rose today, following efforts by the government to soothe nerves rattled by the threat of additional US tariffs.

The biggest equity market is in the US: Worth some US$31 trillion, it’s more than twice as valuable as all the stocks in China and Japan combined. — Bloomberg