World shares fell for a second day running and the dollar dropped to its lowest in almost a month on Wednesday following new signs of a slowdown in China’s economy.

Limp inflation figures from China, volatility in other major emerging markets and more falls in commodities dampened buying.

MSCI’s 45-country All World stock index was down 0.4 per cent at 400.24 points after a near 2 per cent drop by Japan’s Nikkei had lead Asia lower and as the pan European FTSEurofirst 300 opened roughly 1 per cent in the red.

The dollar fell to its lowest in almost a month against other main currencies on bets the uncertainty will prevent a rise in US interest rates, oil slipped again while safe-haven gold notched a fourth day of gains.

In Europe, eyes were on Portugal after talks to form a new government had broken down in Lisbon on Tuesday.

Caretaker prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho, whose centre-right grouping won the October 4 election but lost its parliamentary majority, failed to obtain backing from Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa.

Portugal’s bond yields rose, defying a broader debt market rally and though Lisbon stocks were up slightly on day they have shed over 5 per cent so far this week and some bank stocks are down as much as 16 per cent.

Coup mongering

Brent oil retreated towards $49 a barrel as the International Energy Agency has indicated the oil glut will persist through next year. Industrial metals prices were all lower.

Fragile politics are adding to emerging market risks. Brazil’s real dropped about 2 per cent overnight as President Dilma Rousseff accused her opponents of ‘deliberate coup-mongering’ as tensions rose over a federal audit of how deficit numbers were published.

The focus was still mostly on China though and what kind of reaction there will be from authorities there to clearly slowing growth. The country’s authorities are due to announce a new five-year economic plan later this month.

China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6 per cent in September from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) said, falling short of expectations of 1.8 per cent and down from August’s 2.0 per cent.

Earlier in the day, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had said that it will ease its monetary policy for the second time this year by slowing the pace of the Singapore dollar’s appreciation. The move was aimed at reviving an economy that narrowly avoided a recession in the third quarter.

Asia-Pacific shares

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ended down 0.6 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index slumped 1.9 per cent.

Chinese shares were also lower, but only just. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.8 per cent.

Australian shares also nudged lower, reflecting China’s importance as Australia’s main trading partner. It also came after Wall Street had dropped off a seven-week high.

Fed policy meetings

The US central bank will hold just two more policy meetings in 2015, on October 27-28 and December 15-16, with expectations fading that the Fed will deliver a hike this year.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries slipped to 2.042 per cent in early European trading while Wall Street futures were pointing to a steady restart.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six peers, was down about 0.2 per cent as the euro clawed itself back above $1.1411.

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