Stock slide may ignite wider crisis

Spillover could harm sluggish economy

The boom and bust cycle in China's equities market seems to be taking place much quicker than anticipated, sparking warnings that stock market turmoil may generate a systemic financial crisis that could spill over into the country's sluggish economy.

Supportive government policies once again failed to prevent the A-share market from free-falling as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 3.48 percent to close at 3,912.77 points on Thursday.