Asia Pacific

Trading was halted on China’s stock market on Thursday morning, as stocks plummeted over concerns about the country’s currency, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. It has been a rocky start for the market in the new year, with trading volatile throughout the week. The Chinese market also closed early on Monday after stocks sank precipitously. The latest tumult is likely to add to worries about the Chinese economy and global growth. China’s currency has been falling steadily, as investors pull money out of the country and China’s economy pulls back.

China's dry-bulk shipping industry will likely see a surge in bankruptcies this year as freight rates hit record lows and the country's demand for imports wanes, consultancy Shanghai International Shipping Institute (SISI) said. A number of firms have already gone bust over the past year as the industry grapples with the worst downturn on record due to stalling demand for iron ore and coal from China and a global surplus of vessels. With benchmark freight rates now at an all-time low, finances will be further stretched for shippers.

China stocks rose on Tuesday as financial regulators and the central bank moved aggressively to restore confidence a day after a plunge roiled global markets, the Irish Times reported. Stocks fell more than 2 per cent in early trade, prompting fears that exchanges were set for a second day of panic selling after a 7 per cent dive on Monday set off a new “circuit breaker” mechanism, suspending trade nation-wide. But stocks soon moved back into positive territory thanks to a mixture of policy intervention and hard cash.

Lenders to digital education provider Educomp Solutions Ltd are mulling conversion of debt to a majority equity holding under the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme, two bankers in the know confirmed. “Bankers will be conducting a meeting in the second week of January to take a final call on whether SDR needs to be invoked or not. The company is in a delicate state and decisions need to be made quickly,” said one of the two bankers cited above on conditions of anonymity as these discussions are confidential.

Asian markets tumbled on the first day of trading in 2016, with declines so steep in China that authorities halted all mainland trading before the end of the day, The Wall Street Journal reported. Analysts cited a number of reasons for the selling, including China’s disappointing manufacturing data, reported earlier Monday, and the coming removal of a ban on major shareholders from selling stakes, put in place during the summer stock crash. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 6.9%, its biggest decline on record for the first trading day of the year, before trading was halted.

Beijing Capital Tire Co. Ltd. (BCT), producer of the BCT, Jinglun and Autoguard brands, declared bankruptcy in October, a Chinese industry official has confirmed. According to Chinese media reports dated June 25 and Nov. 16, BCT had suspended production since early 2015 and started laying off 1,000 employees, or half of its total staff, about six months ago. BCT, an affiliate of state-owned conglomerate Beijing Capital Group in Beijing, reports having annual capacity of 7.1 million radial car, light truck and medium truck tires at two factories in the Beijing area.

Electronics retailer Dick Smith has been put into receivership after its banks refused to keep propping it up following poor sales. The company, which has nearly 400 stores in Australia and New Zealand, said in August it was carrying too much of the wrong type of goods and that, combined with soft consumer demand, meant it was being forced to cut its margins to keep afloat. Since then it has twice warned that it wouldn't make its earnings forecasts - it slashed prices and had big pre-Christmas bargain sales.

China had one of the best-performing stock markets in the world in 2015. Yet it was a dismal year for Chinese markets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese stocks suffered an unprecedented summer crash that wiped out 43%, or $5 trillion, of their value at one point. That was followed by an abrupt 2% currency devaluation in August that sent shock waves through global markets. Bold reforms seen as crucial to Beijing’s efforts to turn around a slowing economy, such as a modern stock-listing system and lighter capital controls, stalled as the market turmoil unnerved authorities.

China’s slowing growth and a glut of ships have hit earnings for vessels carrying coal and other dry bulk commodities so hard that owners face forced sales, emergency capital raisings and possible bankruptcy, the Financial Times reported. Charter fees are not covering vessels’ operating costs, let alone their financing, in the latest bad news for the many private equity firms that have invested in the sector. Short-term charter rates for Capesize ships — the largest kind — were as low as $4,897 a day on December 23, down from more than $20,000 a day in August.

The People’s Bank of China has suspended at least two foreign banks from conducting some cross-border yuan business until late March, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The clampdown comes as the growing offshore-onshore spread makes it profitable for those who skirt capital controls to buy the currency at a discount in Hong Kong and sell it in Shanghai.