China’s Stocks Plunge as State Intervention Fails to Stop Rout

China’s benchmark stock index fell to a three-month low on concern a raft of measures to stabilize equities is failing to stop the bear-market rout as traders unwind margin bets at a record pace.

The Shanghai Composite Index slid 3.6 percent to 3,592.35 at 1:04 p.m., after plunging as much as 8.2 percent, the most since 2007. Power, health-care and consumer companies led declines, as only 46 stocks among the 1,106 that trade in Shanghai rose. PetroChina Co. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the two biggest stocks, lost more than 2 percent.