Headlines

One of China’s last major developers to have so far avoided defaults amid the nation’s property debt crisis slid in equity and credit markets Tuesday, after canceling a share placement, Bloomberg News reported. Shares of Country Garden Holdings Co., one of China’s largest private-sector developers, fell as much as 11% in their biggest drop this year, and ended down 7.6%. Its closely watched dollar bond due January next year, its nearest such maturity, dropped 2.3 cents Tuesday to 32.5 cents, a level that indicates high uncertainty on repayment.

Chinese ministries, regulators and the central bank on Tuesday pledged more financing support to small businesses, suggesting an urgency among policymakers to revive the private sector amid a flagging economic recovery, Reuters reported. China will encourage financial institutions to offer targeted and diversified financial support to some small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing sector, according to a joint statement by the industry and finance ministries, financial and securities regulators and the central bank.

China's currency regulators are asking some commercial banks to reduce or postpone their purchases of U.S. dollars in order to slow the yuan's depreciation, Reuters reported. The informal instruction, or the so-called window guidance, is the latest in a series of steps taken by authorities this year to bolster a currency that has been hit by China's faltering post-pandemic economic recovery and rising yields for the U.S. dollar and other major currencies.

Cineworld Group said it has emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy after nearly 11 months, coming out with lower debt and a new slate of management and board, Reuters reported. The world's second largest cinema chain operator behind AMC Entertainment said it has appointed former Chair and CEO of Warner Bros Ann Sarnoff to its board, along with four other members to join new Chairman Eric Foss and CEO Eduardo Acuna. The movie chain operator and owner of brands such as Regal, Cinema City, Picturehouse and Planet had filed for U.S. bankruptcy in early September to restructure its massive debt.

Gross domestic product in the eurozone grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter of 2023, a stronger result than economists predicted. But the recovery, after zero growth in the first quarter, was not consistent across countries, the New York Times reported. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, stagnated in the second quarter, and prospects for a recovery throughout the year remain low, as many of the country’s heavy industries rely on energy and have suffered from the price increases triggered by the war in Ukraine.

Colombia held interest rates at a 24-year high on Monday to curb inflation that far exceeds that of regional peers, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank kept its benchmark rate at 13.25% for a second straight month, in line with expectations. The decision was unanimous, bank Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters in Bogota. Colombia was the last of Latin America’s major economies to end record monetary tightening, and is now forecast to be among the last to start easing policy. Chile on Friday became the first, with a bigger-than-expected rate cut of one percentage point.

British home prices fell further last month as borrowing costs held back demand, one of the largest mortgage lenders said, although the rate of decline showed a chance that the market could yet avoid a hard landing, Bloomberg News reported. The Nationwide Building Society said prices fell 3.8% in its July survey from a year ago, quicker than a 3.5% drop in the previous month. While economists expected a slightly larger decline of 4%, it was the third straight month that prices had fallen at their fastest pace since the global financial crisis in 2009.

The Czech economy is struggling to recover from a short recession as high interest rates and shrinking real wages curb consumption, spurring a debate about when monetary easing should start, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product grew 0.1% in the second quarter from the previous three months, less than policy makers expected, according to a flash estimate published by the Czech Statistics Office on Monday. The economy shrank 0.6% from a year earlier.

The role of Ukraine’s banking system is one of the less told stories of the nation’s resilience. It survived the loss of assets to occupation, power outages and a 30% collapse in GDP without bank runs, service interruption or any significant closures, Bloomberg News reported. State-controlled lenders have played a part. Before the war, the state-run lenders that control about half the system’s assets were seen as part of the country’s problem. They were notorious for poor governance and backroom deals with their government owners.

Hong Kong's June retail sales rose 19.6% from a year earlier in the seventh consecutive month of growth thanks to a tourism recovery and positive consumption sentiment and the outlook is favourable, the city government said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Sales increased to HK$33.1 billion ($4.25 billion). That compared with a revised 18.5% rise in May and 14.9% growth in April. The government launched a promotional campaign in March called "Hello Hong Kong" after lifting all strict COVID-19 restrictions in the city, to bring back tourists and businesses.