Tausi Insider

A worker in protective clothing keeps watch near metal barriers set up around shuttered shop houses that were locked down as part of COVID-19 controls in Beijing, on Nov. 10. Andy Wong/The Associated Press China on Friday eased some of its strict COVID rules, including shortening quarantines by two days for close contacts of infected people and for inbound travellers, and removing a penalty for airlines for bringing in too many cases. The loosening of curbs, a day after President Xi Jinping led his new Politburo Standing Committee in a meeting on COVID, cheered markets even as many experts warned that the measures were incremental and reopening probably remained a long way off. Under the new rules, centralized quarantine times for close contacts and travellers from abroad were shortened from seven to five days. The requirement for three further days in home isolation after centralized quarantine remains. China will also stop trying to identify “secondary” contacts – a major annoyance...

Oil prices dropped to trade near two-month lows on Monday, having earlier slid by around $1 a barrel, as supply fears receded while concerns over fuel demand from China and U.S. dollar strength weighed on prices. Brent crude futures for January had slipped 65 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $86.97 a barrel by 1000 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were at $79.71 a barrel, down 37 cents or 0.5 per cent, ahead of the contract’s expiry later on Monday. The more active January contract was down 50 cents or 0.6 per cent to $79.61 a barrel. Both benchmarks closed Friday at their lowest since Sept. 27, extending losses for a second week, with Brent down 9 per cent and WTI 10 per cent lower. “Apart from the weakened demand outlook due to China’s COVID curbs, a rebound in the U.S. dollar today is also a bearish factor for oil prices,” said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng. “Risk sentiment becomes fragile as all the recent major countries’ economic data point to a rece...

Employees work on the production line at a Beijing Benz Automotive Co factory, in Beijing. FLORENCE LO/Reuters China’s economy lost more steam in November as factory output slowed and retail sales extended declines, both missing forecasts and clocking their worst readings in six months, hobbled by surging COVID-19 cases and widespread virus curbs. The data suggested a further deterioration in economic conditions as lockdowns in many cities, a property-sector crunch and weakening global demand pointed to a bumpy road ahead even as Beijing ditched some of the world’s toughest anti-virus restrictions following widespread and rare public protests. Industrial output rose 2.2 per cent in November from a year earlier, missing expectations for a 3.6 per cent gain in a Reuters poll and slowing significantly from the 5.0 per cent growth seen in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Thursday. It marked the slowest growth since May, partly due to disruptions in key manu...

A China Southern Airlines plane in Colomiers, France, on Nov. 26, 2018. REGIS DUVIGNAU/Reuters China Southern Airlines has scheduled two Boeing 737 Max flights for Friday, its mobile app showed, which if completed would be the first commercial services for the model by a Chinese airline since a March 2019 grounding. The scheduled flights are domestic journeys from the southern city of Guangzhou to Zhengzhou and from Guangzhou to Wuhan, the app showed. China Southern had also initially scheduled a return to commercial service for the 737 Max in October 2022 but did not use it on the planned flights. Boeing BA-N said it would defer to airlines to comment on flight operations, while China Southern did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The 737 Max was grounded in March 2019 following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia but has returned to service around the world with the exception of China and Russia after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training. Foreign air...

A Boeing Co 737 Max made its first passenger flight in China in nearly four years on Friday, marking a major milestone in the U.S. plane maker’s attempt to rebuild its business in the world’s second-largest aviation market. The China Southern Airlines Co Ltd domestic flight from Guangzhou to Zhengzhou departed at 0445 GMT using a Max plane, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24. The best-selling Boeing model was grounded in March 2019 after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, but returned to service around the world starting in late 2020 after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training. “Boeing continues to work with global regulators and customers to safely return the 737 Max to service worldwide,” the plane maker said. The company’s shares were down about 0.5 per cent in U.S. premarket trading. China is the last major market to resume flying the Max amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States, and the return comes as domestic travel demand rebounds af...