By Reuters Staff
3 Min Read
SHANGHAI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Kweichow Moutai Co shares hit record levels on Wednesday after the Chinese liquor maker scrapped plans to donate $127 million to fund public projects in response to investors’ objections.
Moutai’s shares jumped nearly 6% to a record 2,601 yuan ($403.95) on Wednesday, cementing Moutai’s position as the biggest listed company in China, and the world’s top liquor brand by market cap.
The rally was also fuelled by the company’s newly-released promotional video featuring a rap song entitled “Oh It’s Moutai”, which went viral on social media.
Investors cheered after Moutai backed away from a plan to donate 820 million yuan ($127.32 million) to fund public projects including a highway and a city sewage system, which had been announced in October.
Gazprom returned to the bond market on Wednesday with a new 1 billion euro ($1.21 billion) Eurobond issue, Gazprombank said, in a sign of investor confidence in the state-controlled Russian gas producer despite tensions with the West.
By Reuters Staff
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ROME, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco on Wednesday called for a speedier judicial system in the country to help banks to manage problem loans.
“Delays in the civil judiciary continue to be the main obstacle in reducing non-performing loans (NPLs) in our country,” Visco told a parliamentary commission. “Progress on this front would allow speedier company restructuring procedures and, when possible, the recovery of credits.”
Visco added that the ECB’s calendar provisioning rules for problem loans would not be an issue if the length of civil proceedings were in line with those of the rest of Europe.
The COVID-19 pandemic has added urgency to the Bank of Canada's development of a digital currency and decision could come sooner than previously thought, a senior policymaker said on Wednesday, though he noted that a launch was not a "foregone conclusion."