China bucks trend as other Asian markets fall on Grexit fears after 'No' vote to austerity

Asian markets, except China, fell after Greek voters rejected demands for austerity measures from creditors amid fears that the country will move out of the single-currency region.

Australia's S&P/ASX ended trading at 5476.70, down 1.11%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 2.08% to 20112.12.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index declined 4.23% to 24962.48 as at 7.20 am GMT, but China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.59% to 37080.63. India's BSE Sensex fell 0.85% to 27853.68.

Chinese shares rose almost 8% in the opening minutes of trade, as Beijing introduced measures to stabilise its stock markets. The recovery comes after they plunged by a third over the last three weeks.

The People's Bank of China will reportedly inject capital into China Securities Finance Corp, which is owned by the securities regulator, raising the company's capital to 100bn yuan (£10.5bn, €14.7bn, $16.3bn) from the current 24bn yuan.

The company will then use the funds to expand brokerages' business of financing investors' stock purchases.

In addition, China seems to have closed its IPO market, as state-run Xinhua reported that 28 companies had decided to put their public offerings on hold.

In a referendum, Greek voters rejected additional austerity outlined in the proposals by creditors including the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The development raises the probability of a "Grexit", according to analysts.

Politicians and officials from the Troika of creditors have been adamant that a "No" vote will not strengthen Greece's hand in the negotiations, despite Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's claims that it would and Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tweeting that there could be an agreement within 24 hours.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande hastily called a European summit for 7 July to discuss the fallout and the future course of direction.