11:55 A.M.
Evergrande contagion | Bond interest payment delay
Some investors have not received interest payments for offshore bonds issued by an Evergrande unit, Scenery Journey Ltd. It was due to make semi-annual coupon payments on Saturday worth a combined $82.49 million on its U.S. dollar bonds.
Non-payment of interest triggers a 30-day grace period for payment. Evergrande’s one such period expires on November 10, for more than $148 million in coupon payments. The debt laden property developer is also due to make coupon payments totalling more than $255 million on December 28.
11:20 A.M.
Rupee surges against U.S. dollar
The Indian rupee continues to appreciate against the U.S. dollar. The domestic unit opened strong at 74.25 against the dollar and gained further ground to 74.19 in early deals, a rise of 27 paise over its previous close. The Indian currency was supported by dovish central banks.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.01% to 94.31.
10:55 A.M.
Oil prices rise
Oil prices rose after Saudi Aramco said it raised the official selling price for its crude to all buyers across the globe. Brent crude was up 1.1% to $83.64 a barrel, and U.S. oil gained 1.1% to $82.14. Last week, Brent dropped nearly 2%, while U.S. WTI declined almost 3%.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil producer raised its December official selling price to Asia for its Arab light crude to $2.70 a barrel versus Oman/Dubai crude, up $1.40 from this month.
Last week, OPEC+ producers agreed to stick to their plan to raise oil output by 4,00,000 barrels per day from December, ignoring calls from U.S. President for extra output to cool rising prices.
10:30 A.M.
Markets update
Indian indices were trading lower in the morning session. Sensex was down 0.30% at 59,885.81, while Nifty fell 0.26% to 17,869.60.
Major Asian stock indices were mixed in the morning trade. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan dropped 0.23%. In Japan, Nikkei lost early gains to dip 0.23%, short of a recent five-week peak, while Topix slipped 0.25%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.02%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded 0.30% lower.
In U.S., Nasdaq futures were off 0.4%, after 10 straight sessions of gains which left the index looking overextended. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2%.
—- Edited by John Xavier
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI and other news agencies.)
