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.

　　中国上深证交所表示，自本周五起，暂停股市新实施的旨在防止股价自由下跌的指数熔断机制。

　　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%.

　　熔断机制，于2016年1月1日起正式实施，指股值熔断阈值跌破7%时暂停股市交易措施。

　　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.

　　新年第一周中国股市就两次触发熔断收市。周四，股市在半小时内触发熔断机制收盘，创25年来中国股市最短交易日。

　　"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.

　　“在权衡利弊后，目前处于弊大于利的形势，因此，为维护市场稳定，中国证监会（CSRC）决定暂停熔断机制”，中国证监会发表声明。

　　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，中国股价动荡导致全球股价也大幅下跌，华尔街开盘股价下降逾1%，欧洲股市降低2%。

　　What are China’s ’circuit-breakers’?

　　什么是熔断？

　　§ 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

　　§ 在去年夏季股价动荡损失后，于12月发布的熔断措施，在新年第一周周一第一次触发，在周四再次触发。

　　§ 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.

　　§ 在股指波幅达到规定的熔断点时采取的自动暂停交易措施，即沪深300指数盘中大跌逾5%停盘15分钟，或大跌逾7%停盘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.

　　§ 在中国这样以中小投资者为主的市场，熔断机制的推出是为限制恐慌买进卖出交易，但批评者表示这只是加重了第二日的抛出负担。

　　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，北京引进熔断机制已经证明是适得其反。投资者开始慌张，表示与股市稳定相比，他们更不愿意看到股票无法抛出。

　　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.

　　熔断机制是基于沪深300指数，沪深300指数是上海证交所和深圳证交所规模最大的300只股票，于本周一第一次触发。

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

　　如果该指数下降5%，股市将停盘15分钟。

　　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.

　　但在股市停盘周四交易重新开启后，在1分钟内阈值达到7%，当日只能提前收盘。