Evergrande share trading suspended as Asian markets start the week
Asian markets were mixed on Monday, with Shanghai closed for the National Day holiday.
Hong Kong’s benchmark shed more than 2% after troubled property developer China Evergrande’s shares were suspended from trading.
The company did not say why, but a Chinese financial news service, Cailian, said another major developer was planning to buy Evergrande’s property management unit.
Evergrande
EGRNF,
6666,
is struggling to make payments on tens of billions of dollars’ worth of debt as it endures a cash crunch brought on by a tightening of Chinese government restrictions on debt-leveraged financing.
Opinion: China’s risky business crackdown threatens to stall innovation and growth
The Hang Seng
HSI,
sank 2.3% to 24,011.72 while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225
NIY00,
dropped 1.1% to 28,457.15. Shares also fell in Taiwan. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
STW,
climbed 0.8% to 7,246.10.
Markets were closed for holidays in Shanghai and South Korea.
Crude prices fell slightly ahead of a meeting of major oil producers. There was no sign that a spill from a pipeline off the California coast was having an impact on prices.
An estimated 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude were thought to have leaked from an underwater pipeline offshore near Orange County. By late Sunday the leak was reported stanched.
The environmental impact was likely to be much worse than any effect on overall oil supplies. The amount leaked was about 3,000 barrels, while the U.S. produces more than 18 million barrels of crude oil a day.
U.S. benchmark crude oil
CL.1,
shed 21 cents to $75.67 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile exchange. It gained 85 cents to $75.88 per barrel on Friday.
Brent crude
BRN00,
the international standard for pricing, lost 16 cents to $79.12 per barrel.
Oil prices have been hovering at 3-year highs after Hurricane Ida slammed into a critical port that serves as the primary support hub for the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater offshore oil and gas industry in the U.S., worsening the supply situation, at least temporarily.
OPEC and other major oil producers were stung by deep production cuts in 2020 during the depths of the pandemic and have been increasing output slowly.
OPEC plus members due to meet on Monday could consider raising production levels to meet rising demand, Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
Wall Street rebounded on Friday, led by companies that would benefit most from a healthier economy. The S&P 500
SPX,
gained 1.1% to 4,357.04. But U.S. markets still had their worst week since the winter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
climbed 1.4% to 34,326.46. The Nasdaq composite…
Read More: Evergrande share trading suspended as Asian markets start the week