Embattled property developer Evergrande added to the growing concern about the health of China’s property sector as it delayed meetings with lenders about a financial restructuring.
Holders of Hong Kong CEG class A and class C debt have been given more time to consider a US$3.2 billion restructuring plan, with the creditors meeting adjourned to 28 August.
Dates for voting forms to be returned have been extended to 23 August.
Trading in the company's shares was suspended on March 21 last year and will remain suspended until further notice, the company said.
Shares in Chinese property companies were under intense pressure again overnight as concerns over another company, Country Gardens, and investment company Zhongzhi sparked another sell-off.
Country Garden missed two bond repayment deadlines earlier this week on its US$200 billion (£157 billion) debt pile.
Zhongzhi, meanwhile, has confirmed it is going to have to restructure its debt after rumours over its financial health were swirling yesterday.
In a news conference, Chinese officials said they expected the crisis to be “gradually resolved”.
Evergrande’s announcement marks a bad week for news coming out of China.
Figures on youth unemployment were quietly dropped from this month’s economic data having reached a record high of 21% in June.
Economic figures last week showed prices are falling while exports and imports are also sharply down.
Companies such as Tesla have been slashing prices of electric vehicles in China to keep sales up amid growing deflation fears.
Reuters today reported that China’s main banks are selling dollars to buy Yuan to keep the value of the Chinese currency stable.
China is a huge trading partner for countries in the West, accounting for £111bn of bilateral trade with the UK in 2022, while the US was China’s largest trading partner in 2021 even though the two have been involved in a trade war for five years.
Miners, especially the iron ore giants, are often taken as a proxy for China’s economy and Rio Tinto shares were relatively stable today at 4,658p, up by 2.2%, as analysts believe China will take drastic steps to stem the situation deteriorating further.