The number of people who have contracted Covid-19 globally exceeded 100,000 for the first time by Saturday, reaching 101,927, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The latest update from WHO on Sunday showed there were a total of 105,586 laboratory-confirmed cases from over 100 countries, 24,727 of which came from outside of China.
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China has donated $20m to WHO to combat the Covid-19 epidemic, state media Xinhua News reported on Sunday.
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Chinese exports dropped by 17.2% in dollar terms year-on-year in the first two months this year, the General Administration of Customs announced on Saturday. Imports declined by 4% year-on-year. The customs authority released the January and February trade data together.
Exports to the US contracted the most by 27.2% in January and February. Exports to Japan and the European Union also declined by 24.5% and 18.4%, respectively.
“The deeper contraction in exports relative to imports likely reflects domestic production interruptions related to the coronavirus outbreak,” Zhennan Li, a China economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a Sunday note.
China’s trade balance decreased to a $7.1bn deficit in January and February. In December, the country’s trade balance was a surplus Rmb47.2bn ($6.8bn).
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China’s foreign exchange reserves reached $3.1tr in February, a 0.04% decrease from the beginning of the year, Wang Chunying, chief economist at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe), said in a Saturday press release.
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In January, Chinese banks bought Rmb1.007tr of foreign currencies and sold Rmb962.5bn on the domestic foreign exchange market, according to data published by Safe last Friday.
Banks bought and sold Rmb913.9bn and Rmb856.6bn, respectively, for clients. Among themselves, banks bought and sold Rmb92.8bn and Rmb105.9bn respectively.
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Bilateral trade volumes between China and Germany reached €205.7bn in 2019, preliminary data released by Germany showed on Friday. The total import volume from China rose 3.4% year-on-year to €109.7bn, while the export volume stood at €96bn.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, this was the fourth consecutive year that China proved it was “Germany's most important trading partner” in term of revenues. It added that China ranked only 35th among the most important importing countries for Germany in 1980.
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Contracted sales at one of China’s largest real estate developers, Country Garden Holdings, fell to Rmb20.92bn in February, showing a 49.97% decrease from the same period last year, according to a Friday Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing.
The negative impact on the property market last month from the Covid-19 outbreak was seen across the board, with China Aoyuan Group’s contracted sales slumping by 65% year-on-year, KWG Group by 58%, and Seazen Holdings (formerly Future Land) by 56.6%.
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While Chinese banks are facing a rise in non-performing loans due to Covid-19, the impact will only be short term, said a spokesperson for the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission on Friday.
The spokesperson added that Chinese banks are well capitalised with a coverage ratio of over 180% and a capital adequacy ratio of around 14%, which suggest they are resilient to risks and can bear losses. The regulator, however, said it encourages banks to put more efforts into disposing of NPLs “in a timely manner”.
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Beijing Sound Environmental Engineering, a waste management firm, announced the results of its bond swap programme on Friday. The company was unable to pay back the principal of a Rmb500m 6.5% one year bond that matured on March 6.
As a result, the company proposed on March 2 to sell a new one year note at 7% worth up to Rmb500m, in exchange for the Rmb500m 6.5% outstanding note. The new bond will be puttable on December 6 and mature on March 6, 2021. Beijing Sound is the first Chinese issuer to initiate a bond swap onshore.
Eleven of the 14 bondholders signed up for the swap agreement, the company announcedthrough the Shanghai Clearing House. Together, these 11 investors held Rmb400m of the old note.
The Shanghai Clearing House said in a separate statement, also last Friday, that it only received the interest payment but not the principal payment for the remaining Rmb100m held by the three investors who declined to participate in the bond swap programme.
Last week, Zhongrong Xinda Group, once a coal producer, chose to bypass the clearing house and arranged the interest payment for a Rmb1.5bn 7.5% five year note with bondholders privately. By doing so, the issuer escaped a public default.
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The SSE announced the addition of five securities to the southbound trading of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme, while removing eight names.
The new additions were China Feihe, JS Global Lifestyle Co, Powerlong Real Estate Holdings, Topsports International Holdings and Vinda International.
Sa Sa International Holdings, Car Inc, China Foods, China Agri-Industries Holdings, China High Speed Transmission Equipment Group Co, China Travel International Investment Hong Kong, Pacific Textiles Holdings and Value Partners Group were removed.
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The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) published a set of draft rules for companies listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) – an over-the-counter board for start-ups – to transfer to other boards. The draft rules are open for consultation until April 5.
During the trial period, those listed on the NEEQ system, bearing the market classification of “featured company” for more than a year, will be eligible to transfer their listings to the Star Market on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) or the ChiNext board on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE).
The “featured company” classification is a new development itself, only established at the end of last year. There are two other market classifications on NEEQ – basic companies and innovation companies.
Companies with an annual revenue of no less than Rmb10m for the past two consecutive years usually start out on NEEQ as “basic companies”. If they manage to maintain high growth while being “basic companies”, they will be elevated to the rank of “invocation companies”. These companies usually have a yearly revenue of Rmb60m and an annual growth of no less than 50%. Once a company has been classified as an “innovation company” for a consecutive 12 months, they can apply to enter the “feature companies” class. Usually these will be companies equipped with a market cap ranging from Rmb200m to Rmb1.5bn, a high net profit growth and a clear business model.
Transfer of listing does not count as a public offering and therefore does not need to be approved by or registered with the CSRC, according to the notice. The SSE and SZSE will be solely responsible for granting approvals.