Shanghai market gets off to bad start

In what analysts described as the beginning of another round of market adjustments, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index yesterday fell 2.37 percent when the market reopened after the one-week break for Spring Festival.

During the break, other markets in the region were hit hard by deepening fears of a United States' economic recession, with the fallout of the subprime mortgage crisis seen to be spreading fast to other sectors.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 7.6 percent during the break.