Chinese stocks fall to seven-month low on Moody's downgrade

First downgrade since 1989

China's mainland stockmarket has suffered after credit ratings provider Moody's downgraded the country's debt on concerns surrounding the future of its economy.

Moody's Investors Services brought down China's long-term local currency and foreign currency issuer ratings by one notch to A1 from Aa3. The move marks the first downgrade of China's debt by Moody's since 1989, according to Bloomberg. As a result, the Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.6% to 3,043 as at 7.15am GMT time, a seven-month low according to Reuters, though it had rebounded slightly from lows of 3,022 earlier in the trading day. Materials and healthcare shares were among the biggest losers; However, the ChiNext gauge, a NASDAQ-style board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, i...