China’s embattled developers surged in the stock and bond markets Tuesday on news that authorities are planning to help some raise fresh financing, adding to signs of official support for an industry grappling with a debt crisis and slumping home sales, Bloomberg News reported. Notes from Country Garden Holdings Co., CIFI Holdings Group Co. and Longfor Group Holdings Ltd. soared at least 11 cents on the dollar Tuesday, according to Bloomberg-compiled prices, set for the biggest gains since March.
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Malaysia's top court on Tuesday denied a request by former Prime Minister Najib Razak to introduce new evidence in his final appeal against a 12-year jail sentence for a case linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB financial scandal, Reuters reported. Najib faces dozens of charges over the alleged theft of $4.5 billion from 1MDB, a state fund he co-founded as premier in 2009, in a wide-ranging scandal that has ensnared high-ranking officials and financial institutions stretching from Hollywood to the Middle East.
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Pakistan’s rupee, bonds and stocks are rallying as investors bet the nation will win a bailout from the International Monetary Fund this month and avoid a default, Bloomberg News reported. Dollar bonds due in December were indicated at about 95 cents on the dollar on Tuesday from a low of 85 cents in July, as investors turn more confident the debt will be repaid. The rupee surged 11% this month to 213.87 per dollar as of Monday, the biggest gainer in the world. The benchmark stock index climbed 9%, the top performer in Asia after Sri Lanka.
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Asia cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex Pte Ltd was granted more than three months of protection from creditors by Singapore’s High Court, giving the troubled firm breathing room to come up with a funding plan, Bloomberg News reported. Justice Aedit Abdullah gave each of the five Zipmex entities a moratorium until Dec. 2. That will shield the companies from potential creditor lawsuits. The firm operates out of Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia and was seeking a five-month protection from creditors to form a restructuring plan.
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The Supreme Court has set aside the ruling of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) rejecting Asset Reconstruction Co (India) Ltd’s claim in Tulip Star Hotels’ insolvency case, the Economic Times of India reported. The appellate tribunal had accepted the hotel operator’s claim that the ARC filed its case against the company under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) after the limitation period of three years from the date of declaring the asset as non-performing.
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China's central bank cut key lending rates in a surprise move on Monday to revive demand as data showed the economy unexpectedly slowing in July, with factory and retail activity squeezed by Beijing's zero-COVID policy and a property crisis, Reuters reported. The grim set of figures indicate the world's second largest economy is struggling to shake off the June quarter's hit to growth from strict COVID restrictions, prompting some economists to downgrade their projections.
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Japan’s economy has begun to grow again as consumers, fatigued from more than two years of the pandemic, moved away from precautions that have kept coronavirus infections at among the lowest levels of any wealthy country, the New York Times reported. Lockdowns in China, soaring inflation and brutally high energy prices could not suppress Japan’s economic expansion as domestic consumption of goods and services shot up in the second three months of the year.
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The world’s third largest economy recovered to its pre-pandemic size in the second quarter, as consumer spending picked up following the end of coronavirus curbs on businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 2.2% in the second quarter of this year, coming in below the median estimate of 2.6%, Cabinet Office data showed Monday. That lifted the size of the economy to 542.1 trillion yen ($4.1 trillion), above what it was at the end of 2019. First quarter GDP was revised to an expansion from a prior contraction.
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A joint venture between Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and electric vehicle (EV) maker Li Auto filed bankruptcy on Thursday, after the carmaker ended operations, the South China Morning Post reported. Beijing Judian Travel Technology Co. filed for bankruptcy on Thursday with Beijing No 1 Intermediate People’s Court, according to the National Enterprise Bankruptcy Information Disclosure Platform under the Supreme People’s Court. Set up in 2018 with registered capital of 400 million yuan (US$59.3 million), the company built EVs for Didi’s ride-hailing service.
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