China will suspend its new stock market circuit-breaker mechanism - designed to stop free-falling prices - from Friday, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have said.

　　中國上深證交所表示，自本周五起，暫停股市新實施的旨在防止股價自由下跌的指數熔斷機制。

　　The mechanism, which had been in place since the start of this year, suspends trading on China’s main stock markets if stocks fall 7%.

　　熔斷機制，于2016年1月1日起正式實施，指股值熔斷閾值跌破7%時暫停股市交易措施。

　　That circuit-breaker was activated twice this week alone. On Thursday, it was triggered within half an hour of trading. That gave China’s stock markets their shortest trading day in 25 years.

　　新年第一周中國股市就兩次觸發熔斷收市。周四，股市在半小時內觸發熔斷機制收盤，創25年來中國股市最短交易日。

　　"After weighing advantages and disadvantages, currently the negative effect is bigger than the positive one. Therefore, in order to maintain market stability, CSRC has decided to suspend the circuit-breaker mechanism," a statement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said.

　　“在權衡利弊后，目前處于弊大于利的形勢，因此，為維護市場穩定，中國證監會（CSRC）決定暫停熔斷機制”，中國證監會發表聲明。

　　The renewed share suspension in China caused global shares to fall sharply on Thursday, with Wall Street opening more than 1% lower and European markets trading 2% down.

　　周四，中國股價動蕩導致全球股價也大幅下跌，華爾街開盤股價下降逾1%，歐洲股市降低2%。

　　What are China’s ’circuit-breakers’?

　　什么是熔斷？

　　§ The measures were announced in December after a summer of dramatic market losses - used for the first time time on Monday and again on Thursday

　　§ 在去年夏季股價動蕩損失后，于12月發布的熔斷措施，在新年第一周周一第一次觸發，在周四再次觸發。

　　§ They automatically stop trading in stock markets that drop or appreciate too sharply - a 15-minute break if the CSI 300 Index moves 5% from the market’s previous close, or a whole-day halt if it moves 7% or more.

　　§ 在股指波幅達到規定的熔斷點時采取的自動暫停交易措施，即滬深300指數盤中大跌逾5%停盤15分鐘，或大跌逾7%停盤1日。

　　§ Supposedly introduced to limit panic buying and selling - which is more likely in small investor-dominated markets like China’s - but critics say they only add to selling pressure the next day.

　　§ 在中國這樣以中小投資者為主的市場，熔斷機制的推出是為限制恐慌買進賣出交易，但批評者表示這只是加重了第二日的拋出負擔。

　　Analysts said Beijing’s introduction of the circuit-breaker mechanism had proved counter-productive. Investors had panicked they would not be able to sell shares they did not want, rather than being reassured over market stability.

　　分析人士表示，北京引進熔斷機制已經證明是適得其反。投資者開始慌張，表示與股市穩定相比，他們更不愿意看到股票無法拋出。

　　The system is based on the China’s CSI 300 index, which tracks the largest 300 stocks on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and was triggered for the first time on Monday.

　　熔斷機制是基于滬深300指數，滬深300指數是上海證交所和深圳證交所規模最大的300只股票，于本周一第一次觸發。

　　If the index falls by 5%, the markets are suspended for 15 minutes.

　　如果該指數下降5%，股市將停盤15分鐘。

　　But when trading resumed after the initial halt on Thursday, it took only one minute for the 7% threshold to be reached, prompting a shutdown for the rest of the day.

　　但在股市停盤周四交易重新開啟后，在1分鐘內閾值達到7%，當日只能提前收盤。