Shanghai Stocks Just Sent A Massive Signal That The Market Has Peaked

Shanghai's stock exchange is booming again, but for how long? Bloomberg is taking a pretty dim view of the sudden upswing for mainland China's biggest financial centre.

The Shanghai stock exchange composite index was down for the year to date, until September. It's now surging upwards, with a 1% climb today, leaving it an astonishing 28.45% ahead of its January open. It's left the S&P 500 (up a mere 14.26%) in the dust.

The index is now back to a three-year high. It's some way off a record levels, having peaked at over 6,000 before the global financial crisis hit a few years ago. Here's a chart to put that in perspective:

But the average value of shares traded is back above ¥200 billion ($32.58 billion, £20.63 billion) per day, according to Bloomberg, causing some fears for a correction.

There are endless indications that China's economy is slowing even as Shanghai's equities boom picks up. Growth has fallen from the double-digit levels that were common before the financial crisis, but not everyone is pessimistic. From Bloomberg again: