China:Shares in China Evergrande Group jumped more than 8per cent on Tuesday morning after the embattled property developer said it had made initial progress in resuming construction work.
Company chairman Hui Ka Yan vowed in a meeting on Sunday to deliver 39,000 units of properties in December, compared with fewer than 10,000 in each of the previous three months.
Evergrande, grappling with over US$300 billion in liabilities and at risk of becoming China’s biggest ever default, has been scrambling to raise cash by selling assets and shares.
The firm missed a deadline to pay offshore coupons worth US$82.5 million earlier this month, threatening to trigger cross-default on its roughly US$19 billion of international bonds.
Fitch and S&P downgraded Evergrande to “restricted default” and “selective default” respectively following the missed payment.
Evergrande has new coupon payments worth US$255 million due on Tuesday for its June 2023 and 2025 notes.
As of 0200 GMT, Evergrande shares were trading up 7.4per cent at HKUS$1.59, a one-week high, while the Hang Seng Index eased 0.4per cent.
Source: Reuters
