10:32 A.M.
Tight liquidity, credit polarisation persist for China property: Fitch
The operating environment for Chinese developers is likely to remain challenging, with a meaningful recovery of funding likely to take place only towards second half of 2022, with the potential to lead to further defaults or distressed debt exchanges in the sector, Fitch Ratings said.
“We expect the increase in credit polarisation of developers and sector consolidation to expedite a decline in annual property sales volumes, underscoring our deteriorating sector outlook,” it added.
The credit rating agency expects a 10%-15% year-on-year decline in annual sales volumes, with an average selling price decline of around 5%.
10:17 A.M.
Oil prices rise as investors focus on OPEC+ decision
Oil prices rose, recouping the previous day’s losses, as investors focused on OPEC+ decision over supply policy. Brent crude futures gained 1.2%, to $69.72 per barrel, while U.S. WTI crude futures rose 1.3%, to $66.42 a barrel.
OPEC+ will likely decide whether to release more oil into the market as previously planned or restrain supply. Since August, the group has been adding an additional 4,00,000 barrels per day of output to global supply each month.
9:57 A.M.
Dorsey-led Square rebrands to Block
Jack Dorsey-led payments firm Square said it was changing its name to ‘Block’. It said the name ‘Square’ had become synonymous with the company’s seller business.
As a result of the name change, Square Crypto, a separate initiative of the company dedicated to advancing Bitcoin, will change its name to Spiral.
The legal name “Square, Inc.” is expected to be legally changed to “Block, Inc.” on or about December 10. The company’s NYSE ticker symbol “SQ” will not change at this time, it said.
9:31 A.M.
Indian indices open flat
Indian indices opened flat amid mixed global cues and advanced in early trade. At 9:30 A.M., the Sensex was up 259.06 or 0.45% to 57,943.85, while Nifty rose to 17,247.60, up 80.70 or 0.47%.
On Wednesday, the 30-share Sensex rose 619.92 points or 1.09% to 57,684.79. Similarly, the Nifty gained 183.70 points or 1.08% to close at 17,166.90.
9:00 A.M.
Asian shares mixed
Major Asian stock indices were mixed, as fears about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus weighed on investor sentiment.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.2%, boosted by Chinese blue chips up 0.25% and Hong Kong up 0.20%. However, in Japan, Nikkei fell 0.66% and Topix dropped 0.46%. South Korea’s Kospi was trading 0.94% higher.
In U.S. all three main benchmarks closed lower after advancing as much as 1.9% by late morning. The S&P 500 lost 1.22% to end at 4,511.14 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.88% to 15,244.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.38% to 34,014.22.
—- Edited by John Xavier
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI and other news agencies.)
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