From price inflation and Brexit rows to Evergrande and Biden v Putin: Here are the market risks to watch this year January 4, 2022 The world is a pretty turbulent and unpredictable place at the moment, with Covid variants not making life easier. From tensions between Russia and the US over Ukraine’s NATO membership to Brexit conflicts and China’s Evergrande property scandal, 2022 is set to become everything but dull. So what developments and issues could disrupt or disturb [...]
Chinese AI firm SenseTime heads for £580m listing despite US investor ban December 20, 2021 Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime Group announced today that it has relaunched its $767m (£580m) Hong Kong share sale after its listing was pulled last week following an American ban on investment.
China’s Evergrande: not so grand financial statements? December 15, 2021 | City Talk Evergrande Group is the latest listed company to unexpectedly find itself on the verge of bankruptcy. When businesses are thrust into public view for the wrong reasons, my first thought is always whether trouble could have been coming. To see if the Chinese property development giant’s travails could have been anticipated, I looked at its [...]
Early orders and Singles Day boost: Both Chinese exports and imports pick up steam December 7, 2021 European equity markets got off to a solid start to the new week yesterday as investors looked past the negativity of last week and chose to focus on the expectation that the Omicron variant, while more transmissible, may well not be as virulent as the Delta variant that is wreaking havoc across Europe. “Indications so [...]
Peng Shuai: WTA suspend tournaments in China over tennis star December 1, 2021 The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have this evening suspended all WTA tournaments in China and Hong Kong over Peng Shuai’s sexual assault allegations and the events which subsequently followed. In a statement, WTA chief executive Steve Simon said: “With the full support of the WTA Board of Directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of [...]
Beijing asks Didi to delist in New York over data security concerns November 26, 2021 Chinese regulators have pressured top executives of ride hailing giant Didi to pull together a plan to delist from the New York Stock Exchange over data security fears, according to reports. Beijing’s Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) – the body that has cracked down on the likes of Ant Group and Alibaba in the last [...]
Peng Shuai: What we know, the IOC and the Olympic Games November 24, 2021 The curious case of Peng Shuai gets curiouser and curiouser as the days roll by. From initial allegations, to a prolonged period away from public view, to a court-side appearance, to a video call with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach. It’s almost unbelievable. The timeline began on 2 November, when Peng accused a [...]
Alibaba shares slide five per cent as earnings fall short of forecasts November 18, 2021 Alibaba shares tumbled five per cent after the company’s third quarter financials disappointed investors. In results released today, Chinese tech giant Alibaba revealed that revenue for the three months to October 2021 was $31.1bn (£23bn), up by 29 per cent compared to a year prior, but a far cry from analyst predictions of $32.1bn Net [...]
China mulls cybersecurity review for companies seeking Hong Kong IPO November 14, 2021 China has ramped up its oversight of mainland companies holding data that seek a listing in Hong Kong with a proposed new law mandating a cybersecurity review. Under the the new draft regulation, published by China’s cyberspace regulator today, officials would impose a cybersecurity review on such companies if a listing is deemed to have [...]
China exports surge despite port disruptions at regional lockdowns November 8, 2021 Asia markets have got the week off to a quiet start this week, with the latest China trade data for October giving a mixed insight into the world’s second biggest economy. The last couple of months have proved to be “fairly resilient” ones for China trade, despite disruption at Chinese ports, and the various lockdown restrictions [...]