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Bloomberg Shares of Chinese banks and developers tumbled on Monday after regulators made an unprecedented move to cap loans for the real estate sector, the latest effort to snuff out systemic risks. The CSI 300 Financials Index dropped 1.2%, while the gauge of Shanghai-listed property developers falls 2.3% to the lowest in six months. Under new rules, the nation’s largest ...

Bloomberg Finland’s financial watchdog is trying to figure out how to respond after a lender it oversees explicitly disregarded European Central Bank’s (ECB) guidelines on shareholder rewards. The decision by Alandsbanken Abp, announced on January 1, to pay almost four times the dividend cap set by the ECB is “unfortunate,” Jyri Helenius, head of banking supervision at the Finnish Financial ...

Bloomberg Poland’s central bank moved to weaken the zloty for the first time in a decade, delivering on a warning that it won’t tolerate a stronger currency as the economy tries to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Sales by the bank helped push the zloty down by as much as 1.7% against the euro in low-volume trading. The step comes ...

Bloomberg Egypt’s central bank has extended two debt relief initiatives for another 6 months which were launched earlier to help companies and tourism firms struggling as a result of the coronavirus’ impact on the economy. In a statement, the regulator said the move affects companies with bank debt of less than 10 million Egyptian pounds and tourism firms with debts ...

Bloomberg The Indonesian rupiah may be on the cusp of a rally. Its rebound from the worst-performing Asian currency to second best in the final three months of 2020 signals potential for further gains. The removal of US election risk and supportive coronavirus vaccine developments aided the rupiah’s rise to near resistance at 13,873, its June 8 high, before it ...

Bloomberg China’s state-owned telecommunications companies declined in Hong Kong after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said it’s delisting them to comply with a US executive order that sanctioned companies identified as affiliated with the Chinese military. Shares of China Mobile Ltd., the largest of the three, falls as much as 4.5% on Monday to their lowest level since 2006, ...

Bloomberg European stocks jumped, with miners and energy firms among the biggest gainers as commodities get a boost from the weakest dollar since 2018. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rises at the open, led higher by cyclical shares, as crude oil futures in New York approached $50 a barrel. Gold climbed more than 1% to the highest in almost two ...

Bloomberg Iraq has selected a Chinese company for a multibillion-dollar oil-supply deal, as the nation seeks funds to bolster an economy reeling from the coronavirus-triggered collapse in energy prices. SOMO, which oversees Iraq’s petroleum exports, picked a Chinese firm after receiving bids from several traders, the official Iraqi News Agency(INA) reported, citing an interview with the head of SOMO, Alaa ...

RIYADH / WAM Entry to Saudi Arabia by sea, land and air resumed following a two week entry ban over fears of a new coronavirus variant, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. In a statement, the Ministry of Interior said that non-citizens entering from the UK, South Africa or any other countries where the new variant spread, will require to ...

DUBAI / WAM JustChain, a UAE-based startup focussed on implementing blockchain-based solutions for justice and public safety, has launched the world’s first blockchain-based notary platform, NotaryChain. This follows the recent approval from UAE Cabinet on digital signatures, and its application to notary services.