stocks get a bashing on first day of trading in 2016

European shares fell sharply on Monday, the first day of trading for 2016, as weak Chinese economic data weighed on world stock markets.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 2.3 percent, while the euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index declined by 2.6 percent.

China’s factory activity contracted for the 10th straight month in December and at a sharper pace than in November, a private survey showed, dampening hopes that the world’s second-largest economy will enter 2016 on a more stable footing.

The weak data caused Chinese and Asian shares to slump, with China’s benchmark CSI300 share index tumbling 7 percent on Monday, prompting the stock exchange to halt trading for the rest of the day.

Shares in carmaker Fiat Chrysler fell after the spin-off of its Ferrari division, but French conglomerate Bouygues outperformed to rise 1.3 percent after a media report that Orange was moving closer to buying Bouygues’ telecoms arm for 10 billion euros ($10.86 billion).

Hong Kong stocks posted their biggest fall in three months on Monday, marking a gloomy start for 2016, pulled lower by slumping mainland shares and weak global markets.

The Hang Seng index fell 2.7 percent, to 21,327.12, registering its biggest one-day percentage fall since Sept. 29. The China Enterprises Index lost 3.6 percent, to 9,311.18 points.

Sentiment was damped by the savage sell-off in mainland equity markets, which tumbled 7 percent and triggered the circuit breaker mechanism that cut China’s trading session short.

The panic on the mainland, triggered by sluggish factory activity surveys, fears of a share supply glut and a weaker yuan, spread to Hong Kong as well.

Shares fell across the board, with commodity, financial and industrial stocks among the biggest losers.