FALLING AGAIN The Chinese stock markets fell over 5% yesterday

Shares traded on the Chinese stock exchanges fell sharply yesterday as well, after a "brutal" year beginning (last week), amid worries concerning the slowdown of the country's economy.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 5.3%, to 3,016.70 points, and the Shenzhen Composite - 6.6%, to 1,848.10. The CSI 300 index, which tracks the dynamic of stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, fell almost 5%, to 3,192.45 points.

The decline came after the publishing, at the end of last week, of data which shows that industrial output prices in China fell the 46th consecutive month in China, fueling speculation fueling speculation about a prolonged slowdown of the country.

"Weak data in China has created further even more uncertainty, increasing risk aversion on the foreign exchange and stock markets on emerging countries", said Jonathan Ravelas, of "BDO Unibank" Inc. Manila, according to Bloomberg. He further said: "Moreover, most investors have doubts that the Chinese financial markets will stabilize soon. Given the volatility of the financial markets, the best thing to do is to stay on the sidelines and keep your cash".

On the other hand, the president of the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, Li Wei, said this weekend, that the country will have major difficulties in posting an economic growth higher than 6.5% between 2016 and 2020, because of the global slowdown and of the increase in the cost of labor on the domestic market.

"In the last 30 years of reforms and opening of the economy, China's GDP has seen an annual growth rate of approximately 10%. Compared to that, the growth rate of 6.5% is not high, but it will be difficult to reach that pace", Li Wei stressed.

According to his statement, the main factors that will have a negative impact on China's evolution will be the slowdown of the world's economy, the rising labor costs, which is eroding its competitive advantage, and the escalations of the concerns concerning the environment - China will no longer have the ability to quickly industrialize arable land.

The authorities in China are expected to publish on January 19th the data concerning the annual evolution of the economy in 2015, with analysts estimating a growth of approximately 7% - the slowest pace in the last 25 years.

• The price of copper, less than 4,400 dollars a ton

Copper futures prices fell yesterday, on the foreign markets, to the lowest level in the last six and a half years, amid stock market drops. Investors are concerned that copper demand from China will decrease, as it is the biggest copper consumer in the world.

Copper price with a 3-month delivery fell 1.7% on the London market, on 11:13, to 4,407.50 dollars/ton. Earlier, the price had reached its lowest level since 2009: 4,381 dollars/ton.

Copper stocks tracked by the London Stock Exchange are rising, posting the biggest rise last month.

On Comex New York, the price of copper with March delivery fell 2.1% at 10:40, reaching 1.9790 dollars an ounce.