Indian stocks fell, taking a sudden plunge about one hour ahead of the close as investors assessed the latest coronavirus outbreaks as well as a new lockdown in the U.K, Bloomberg News reported. The S&P BSE Sensex closed down 3% to 45,553.96, the biggest decline since May, with all stocks in the red. Reliance Industries and utilities were the biggest contributor to the losses with the oil refiner down 2.6%. Meanwhile, a broader gauge of about 200 stocks that includes mid caps tumbled 3.4%, the most since May.

Debt-laden Sarawak Cable Bhd (SCable) has struck deals with financial institutions to restructure the loans of its affected subsidiaries, The Star Online reported. SCable said the affected companies (subsidiaries) have entered into the relevant agreements (RAs), including the restructuring agreements, with their respective lenders, with all the agreements having been signed by Dec 11,2020. The parties have agreed to vary the terms and restructure the existing facilities in accordance with the affected companies’ restructuring scheme (RS), the company told Bursa Malaysia on Dec 11.

OneWeb, the satellite internet group recently rescued from bankruptcy, is expecting to clinch a $400m fundraising next month, its executive chairman said as the company marked a return to business with the launch of 36 satellites, the Financial Times reported. Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Indian telecoms tycoon who with the British government has taken control of OneWeb for $1bn, said two satellite operators and a financial group were in late stage discussions about investing. “We are very close . . . maybe a couple of weeks,” Mr Mittal said.

Global institutions, creditors and lobby groups are scrambling to come up with ways of tackling what many fear will be a wave of sovereign debt crises in emerging economies in the coming year, the Financial Times reported.

Oil and gas explorer Far Ltd said on Thursday it received a A$209.6 million ($159.15 mln) all-cash takeover proposal from private investment firm Remus Horizons PCC Ltd, Reuters reported. The offer values Far at 2.1 Australian cents per share, representing a premium of 90.9% to the company’s shares last closing price of 1.1 Australian cents. Cash-strapped Far has struggled due to the coronavirus-induced downturn in the oil and gas industry, with the Africa-focused explorer defaulting in June on its contributions to the Sangomar oil project off Senegal’s shore.

China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Thursday it has approved the opening of China Galaxy Asset Management Co., Ltd, the fifth asset management company in the country that will mainly deal with bad loans and toxic assets nationwide, Reuters reported. Chinese banks are braced for rising bad debt in the coming months as policies designed to give borrowers breathing space on loans during the coronavirus crisis expire.

China’s central bank is striking out on its own with signals of tighter monetary policy, widening a divergence with other large economies that will shape global capital and trade flows next year, Bloomberg News reported. With most of the world’s major nations still battling the pandemic and struggling to recover from deep recessions, China’s economy is on track to grow by about 2% this year and more than 8% in 2021.

China has suspended one of its top credit rating agencies after a former executive was accused of taking “massive” bribes, as a growing pile of defaults rattle the country’s $4tn corporate debt market, the Financial Times reported. The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced on Tuesday that it was temporarily freezing the licence of Golden Credit Rating and had forbidden the agency from taking on new business for three months. The move came as Shandong Ruyi, China’s largest textile manufacturer, looked set to default on a second bond in as many days.

More than 60 per cent of the corporate insolvency resolution processes (CIRPs) that achieved closure in July-September 2020 have ended up in liquidation, Business Standard reported. The data by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) shows that 68 of the 112 cases closed during this period went into liquidation. While a significant number of cases had faced liquidation in the previous quarter too, it was still only one-third of the total cases that got closure.

China’s central bank made its biggest ever injection of medium-term funds on Tuesday to shore up liquidity, after recent corporate bond defaults shattered investor confidence and scuppered new issuances, Reuters reported. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement it had issued 950 billion yuan ($145 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to financial institutions to keep the “banking system liquidity reasonably ample”. It kept the interest rate unchanged for an eighth straight month at 2.95%.