Only a few weeks ago, it seemed that China's insular equity markets were leading other stocks around the world. Some analysts in Europe even said China's Shanghai Composite index was now the first price they searched for at the start of their trading day.
Yet, evidence is growing that rather than showing greater correlation with other markets, Shanghai's Composite index is acting more independently.
As Chinese equities have crashed 21 per cent since August 4, other markets in the developed and developing world have either risen or traded sideways. The UK's FTSE 100 is up 3 per cent since August 4, the Brazilian Bovespa is down a meagre 0.5 per cent, Russia's RTS has fallen 1.3 per cent and India's BSE Sensex is down 2 per cent.