The embattled Chinese real-estate group, Evergrande, made strong gains on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday in spite of lingering fears of defaults.
Evergrande shares jumped more than 30 per cent at the start of trading, but reduced the gain to a plus of around 10 per cent by midday.
According to observers, investors were reacting to an announcement made the day before, in which the group said it was able to gain some breathing space.
Evergrande had said on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with creditors on interest payments on a bond traded in Shenzhen, southern China, which were due on Thursday.
The Hong Kong stock exchange was closed on Wednesday for a public holiday.
However, great uncertainty was caused by the fact that the company has still not given any details about another offshore bond traded in US dollars on which millions of dollars in interest must be paid on Thursday.
Another multimillion-dollar interest payment is due on Sept. 29.
The Chinese group has debts equivalent to more than 300 billion dollars.
Investors fear a default. The company needed to raise money to pay banks, suppliers and bondholders on time.
In addition, Evergrande owed several billion dollars to small investors, including many employees.
The head of Evergrande wrote to employees on Tuesday to encourage them.
He was firmly convinced that the darkest moment could be overcome, CEO Xu Jiayin wrote.
The company would be responsible towards home buyers, investors, partners and financial institutions.
