Hong Kong Financial News

Crypto exchange Bitget has grown significantly despite the challenges brought by the bear market. In 2023, the exchange announced two $100-million funds — one dedicated to crypto projects in Asia and another for maximizing the company’s long-term impact in the crypto space.

Project Sela leaned on the Bank of Israel's cyber security expertise and ongoing work on the digital shekel and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's (HKMA) learnings from Project Aurum and e-Hong Kong Dollar. In Sela, the rCBDC ledger is operated by the central bank without compromising end user privacy as personal identifiers are obfuscated.

Asian shares are trading mixed following a Big Tech rally on Wall Street, as investors watch for an update on U.S. consumer prices set for later in the week

₹12-15 lakh for his services over a two-month period. According to a report in The Indian Express, around 100 messages were exchanged between Stimac and Sharma between May and June 2022. The Indian team had played around 4 matches during this period against the likes of Cambodia, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Jordan.

Asian shares are mostly lower despite a Big Tech rally on Wall Street, as investors look ahead to data on U.S. consumer prices set for later in the week

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -China's largest private property developer Country Garden won approval from its creditors to extend repayments on six onshore bonds by three years, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, sending shares up as much as 10%.

The former CEO of Alibaba has resigned as head of its cloud computing business in a surprise move as the Chinese e-commerce empire wraps up a leadership reshuffle

Vedanta Resources Limited, the holding company of the mining conglomerate, Monday discussed the potential tenure extension of the bonds due in 2024 and 2025 by three years to 2027 through a partial exchange as part of the liability management exercise in meetings held with investors in Hong Kong. VRL's proposal to extend the maturity of the shorter-term bonds by three years, however, has irked some investors, as it means that bonds maturing in 2026 will be redeemed before the 2024 and 2025 bonds. ET earlier this month had reported that VRL hired Morrow Sodali's services to identify holders of its $1 billion bonds maturing in January 2024, another $1 billion set to mature in August 2024, and a $1.2 billion bond due in 2025. A Vedanta spokesperson said: “The Vedanta team is travelling to Singapore and Hong Kong to meet existing bondholders. These meetings are being organised by JP Morgan and Standard Chartered. These are purely non-deal roadshows to meet and greet our existing investors.” During meetings, the company management also disclosed that, as part of its liability management exercise (LME), it would have limited cash available. It plans to pay $200 million to Trafigura to free up the security and use it to raise funds by securitising brand fee. In June, VRL had raised $200 million from commodities trading company Trafigura Group to meet some debt repayments. VRL's total aggregated holdco debt is $5.9 billion at the end of June 2023 of which $ 3.7 billion is bonds. VRL is in discussions with lenders to borrow $ 1.3 billion loan from banks against the three year brand fee, as reported. It also plans to prepay a $350 million loan from Oaktree Capital Management.

An unexpected twist to Alibaba’s changing of the guard—and a drip feed of other bad news—has undermined the bullish sentiment surrounding the Chinese e-commerce giant earlier this year. And given how China-adverse investors have become, it may be tough to reverse that without an all-clear for the economy more broadly—especially since Alibaba executives may be tempted to slow-walk restructuring plans as long as China’s stock markets remain in the doldrums. Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 3% Monday in the wake of two potentially significant developments: a report from Bloomberg, citing sources, that the firm would put on hold a potential IPO of its Freshippo grocery chain, and a surprise personnel change.

When Apple introduces its new iPhone 15 on Tuesday, many companies will already be shipping companion accessories of their own—cases that fit the just-announced lineup of smartphones. The question is: If Apple is so secretive, how did they know what the iPhone 15 looked like? Case makers spend the year before launch preparing for Apple’s next big release. A handful work directly with Apple.

Investing.com — Shares of Alibaba Group (HK:9988) (NYSE:BABA) slumped in Hong Kong trade on Monday after the e-commerce giant said that outgoing chief executive Daniel Zhang will also step down as the head of its cloud unit.

UBS Group AG is cutting hundreds of wealth jobs in Asia just months after completing its takeover of rival Credit Suisse as the bank responds to muted client activity and China’s slowing economy. Switzerland’s largest bank reduced some overlapping roles in the past months and further cuts are expected through November, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the plans are private. The lender is set to eliminate a few hundred roles that include relationship managers in Hong Kong and Singapore, the majority within teams newly acquired from Credit Suisse, the people said. The number of cuts hasn’t been finalized, they said.

typhoon kept southern China drenched for the seventh day as slow-moving storm clouds drifted from Guangdong on the coast to Guangxi, flooding low-lying areas, blocking roads and trapping residents. In the rural county of Bobai in Guangxi region, rescuers on assault boats have scrambled to pull people to safety since Sunday night as water more than 2 metres (6.6 feet) deep stranded residents in low-rise homes, state media reported on Monday. Heavy rain is expected to persist in Guangxi over the next few days. Haikui has weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm since making landfall in Fujian province on Sept. 5, but its residual circulation has continued to wreak havoc in southern China, with the populous city of Shenzhen deluged by the heaviest rain since records began in 1952.

IIT Bombay recently concluded its annual placement drive, achieving a milestone with its highest-ever international offer of Rs 3.7 crore per year, while the top domestic salary reached Rs 1.7 crore per year. Compared to the previous year's highest international annual salary of Rs 2.1 crore, this marks a significant increase. However, it's worth noting that the domestic salary in the previous year was slightly higher at Rs 1.8 crore per year. According to a TOI report, the engineering and technology sector witnessed the highest recruitment numbers, with average compensation just slightly above last year's figures.

China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is putting a potential Hong Kong initial public offering of its Freshippo grocery chain on hold amid weak sentiment for consumer stocks, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing sources. The Chinese technology conglomerate has concluded it could likely achieve a valuation of around $4 billion for Freshippo, which is lower than the $6 billion to $10 billion it was targeting when it considered raising a private funding round last year, according to the report.

Hong Kong has entered the second phase of technical testing for China's digital yuan, expanding the trial to include more Hong Kong banks. 

Ant Group, the owner of the world’s largest mobile payment platform, Alipay, revealed its new sub-brand under the name ZAN. The brand will focus on blockchain development and services for both institutional and individual Web3 developers. 

Shares have slipped in Asia after Japan reported its economy grew less than earlier estimated in the last quarter

stock exchange delayed trading in both the securities and derivatives markets on Friday morning due to a black rainstorm warning. The warning means that heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 millimetres in an hour, and is likely to continue, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. According to the exchange's arrangement, the morning trading session will be suspended if the black rainstorm warning remains in place at 9 a.m.

tech shares tumbling on deepening Sino-U.S. tensions, while the dollar was set to seal its longest winning streak in nine years as investors braced for U.S. interest rates to stay higher for longer. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2% in early trade and is down 1.4% for the week.

rain deluged Hong Kong on Friday leading to widespread flooding across the densely packed city, submerging streets, shopping malls and metro stations, as authorities shut schools and asked workers to stay at home. The Chinese special administrative region saw the highest hourly rainfall since records began 140 years ago.Hong Kong Observatory reported rainfall of 158.1 millimetres (6.2 inches) between 11 p.m. HKT on Thursday and midnight on Friday (1500 to 1600 GMT on Thursday). The weather bureau issued the highest «black» rainstorm warning and said more than 200 mm of rainfall was recorded on Hong Kong's main island, Kowloon and the northeastern part of the city's New Territories since Thursday night. The trough of low pressure associated with the remnant of Typhoon Haikui has brought torrential rain to the coast of Guangdong since Thursday, the weather bureau said.