Another Chinese property developer said Monday it had defaulted on a major bond repayment, citing liquidity problems amid a government crackdown on the debt-laden sector.

China's real estate industry — a key growth driver in the world's second-largest economy — has cooled in recent months after Beijing tightened home buying rules and launched a regulatory assault on speculation.

The moves have created headaches for several major developers, notably China Evergrande, the country's second-largest by volume that is weighed down by billions of dollars in debt.

On Monday, Hong Kong-listed Sunshine 100 China Holdings said it had missed a Sunday deadline to make $179 million in principal and interest payments on a 10.5 percent bond.

The default was due to "liquidity issues arising from the adverse impact of a number of factors including the macroeconomic environment and the real estate industry", the company said in an exchange filing.

Sunshine 100 has repeatedly struggled to meet its debt obligations this year and also defaulted on a bond repayment in August.

The company now has $385 million of outstanding dollar notes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Evergrande — which is drowning in $300 billion of debt — has so far managed to avoid default, but it has dollar bond coupons worth $82.5 million in total due Monday, when a 30-day grace period ends, according to Bloomberg.

On Friday, embattled founder Xu Jiayin was summoned by officials after the company released a statement warning it may not have enough money to "continue to perform its financial obligations".

The Guangdong provincial government later said it would send a working group to Evergrande to "supervise and promote enterprise risk management".

The property giant's shares tumbled more than 12 percent when markets opened Monday morning.

Rival developer Kaisa last week said it had failed in a bid for a debt swap that would have bought it crucial time to pay back some of its bonds.

Asia markets down on Omicron, US jobs data worries
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 6, 2021 –

Asian markets broadly fell in morning trading Monday, tracking uncertainty over the Omicron variant of Covid-19 as well as disappointing US jobs data and the future of Chinese tech firms on Wall Street.

The Omicron variant has been detected in 38 countries but no deaths have yet been reported, with authorities worldwide racing to determine how contagious it is and how effective existing vaccines are at fighting it.

Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci said Sunday that while more information was needed, preliminary data on the severity of the Omicron Covid-19 variant are "a bit encouraging."

Nevertheless, the new strain has sparked fears that the global recovery could be put in jeopardy, as governments reimpose restrictions that many had hoped would be a thing of the past.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva has warned the latest strain could slow the global recovery, noting that "a new variant that may spread very rapidly can dent confidence."

"Omicron?related uncertainty will linger while market participants wait to learn about the severity, infectiousness and resistance of the strain," Kim Mundy, a strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note.

Tracking those fears — as well as signs of a looming hawkish shift in US rates — Tokyo, Seoul and Australia fell in morning trading.

Also down was Hong Kong, where news last week that Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing would start the process of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange has sent shares in tech firms tumbling.

Shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba — still reeling from the impacts of a broad regulatory crackdown on big tech by Beijing — fell up to 8.3 percent in early trading, as the firm announced the biggest reshuffle of its top management since a massive fine for antitrust violations.

Losses in the US were also dragging markets down, after a week that saw the Federal Reserve signal a plan to accelerate the withdrawal of its monetary stimulus and potentially hike rates sooner.

Disappointing US jobs data on Friday contributed to the pessimism, showing the world's largest economy added just 210,000 jobs last month — fewer than half the increase forecasters expected.

Analysts have characterised the report as better than the headline figure, noting the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2 percent, a decline of four-tenths of a point from the prior month. The labour force participation rate also rose to its highest level since the pandemic.