Chinese stocks' early plunge closes market for the day

China's stock markets closed early for the second time this week as a 7% fall in the first 14 minutes of trading set off the new ciruit breaker mechanism.

As concerns grow about the world's second largest economy, the short space of time was enough for $640bn to be wiped off the value of stocks and see the Shanghai Composite index close the curtailed session down just over 7% at 3,115.89

This followed large losses in US markets overnight, as the circular nature of market confidence sees each session undermine another, with unraveling oil prices adding further doubts into the mix.

The rapid depreciation of the Yuan in recent weeks, with the Chinese currency having now declined over 5% since the beginning of November, was another factor weighing on investors in the People's Republic.

"With yet another sharp depreciation overnight, as well as further stock market weakness in Asia this morning, deflation and growth fears look unlikely to abate in the short term, which means volatility surrounding China looks increasingly like it could well be an ongoing theme as we head into 2016," said analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.