Shares on major exchanges fell for a sixth consecutive day on Thursday and crude prices touched multi-year lows as investors fretted over the state of the Chinese economy and its ability to stabilize its stock market.

China suspended a circuit breaker set up at the start of 2016 that stopped trading for the day when stocks fell 7 percent, a halt that had already triggered twice this week.

Analysts and investors said the mechanism, put in place to avoid market volatility, may have backfired.