China loses #2 spot in the world's stock market list

China’s stock market has been overtaken as the world’s second-biggest by Japan’s, having been swiped this year by the threat of a trade war with the United States and slowing economic growth.

Data from Bloomberg News in intra-day trade on Friday showed the value of equities on the mainland had slipped behind those in their neighboring country for the first time since taking the number-two spot in 2014.

The figures showed Chinese stocks were worth $6.09 trillion, compared with $6.17 trillion in Japan.

While global markets have been broadly hit by fears of a trade war between the world´s top two economies, Chinese equities are among the worst performers this year, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slumping more than 16 percent since the start of January.

The pressure was ratcheted up this week when the White House said it was considering more than doubling threatened tariffs on a range of Chinese imports worth $200 billion.

Washington has already imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of goods and is considering hitting another $16 billion in the coming weeks.

“Losing the ranking to Japan is the damage caused by the trade war,” Banny Lam, head of research at CEB International Investment in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News.

“The Japan equity gauge is relatively more stable around the current level but China´s market cap has slumped from its peak this year.”