China’s financial system is “largely stable and healthy,” the country’s foreign exchange regulator said at the weekend in an effort to reassure global markets as investors braced for a possible resumption of last week’s market turmoil, the Financial Times reported. Attention is likely to focus on China’s central bank and its management of the renminbi this week, after the markets regulator appeared to stabilise last week’s stock sell-off by scrapping a controversial “circuit breaker” mechanism and extending a ban on share sales by large shareholders.

In a related story, The Wall Street Journal reported that the convulsions in China’s stock and currency markets this past week fanned investors’ worst fears: The world’s second biggest economy is in trouble and the authorities are powerless to fix it. The truth is less frightening, but still fraught. China is trying to shift economic growth to a slower, safer path, one less dependent on capital spending and debt. Chinese technocrats know that means opening to ever more market forces, but its ruling elite is still not willing to accept that loss of control.

China’s hoard of foreign-exchange reserves continued to shrink in December, recording the biggest monthly drop ever and falling overall to its lowest level in nearly three years as worries intensify over the country’s economic slowdown, The Wall Street Journal reported. With the $107.9 billion drop in December, Beijing’s foreign-exchange reserves have fallen every month but one since May. The data suggest the central bank is having to spend huge amounts of dollars to support an increasingly beleaguered yuan amid decelerating economic growth and the onset of higher U.S.

Clive Palmer has lashed out at the Queensland government for refusing to support his struggling Yabulu nickel refinery, as reports emerge that insolvency experts have been called in, The Guardian reported. Palmer released a statement saying the government’s recent refusal to assist Queensland Nickel by guaranteeing a $35m loan was making it “near impossible” to compete in the international marketplace.

South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) is seeking a debt restructuring with its creditors and is expecting to post its sixth consecutive year of losses in 2015, reports said. In a regulatory filing to the stock exchange, HHIC said it faces a temporary liquidity shortage and seeks to restructure its debts with creditors under a voluntary agreement. Local media reports mentioned that HHIC is requesting its major creditor Korea Development Bank (KDB) to approve the debt restructuring plan, allowing the yard to then delay debt repayments and obtain extra funding.

ASX-listed coal seam gas (CSG) drilling contractor, Titan Energy Services Ltd, has become the latest victim of the commodity downturn, being placed into voluntary administration, according to a company statement. In its 2015 annual financial statements, the group said its ability to continue in business depended on several factors, including the ability to win new work and raise additional funds.

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.

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.

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.