Embattled Chinese firm Evergrande will deliver almost four times the number of housing units to buyers in December than in the previous three months, its chairman said, as the real estate behemoth grapples with massive debts.

Evergrande -- drowning in $300 billion in liabilities -- has struggled to repay bondholders and investors after becoming ensnared in Beijing's deleveraging crackdown on the bloated property sector.

But the group -- which officially defaulted on a major bond payment this month -- has insisted it will be able to complete tens of thousands of units and pay off some debts.

"Since the company's troubles began, we delivered fewer than 10,000 units in September, October and November," chairman Hui Ka Yan -- known as Xu Jiayin in Mandarin -- told a company meeting Sunday evening, according to a post on Evergrande's official WeChat account.

"There are only five days left this month, we must charge full steam ahead to guarantee the delivery of 39,000 units this month."

The new homes are across 115 developments, he said.

"Absolutely nobody at Evergrande is allowed to 'lie flat'," Hui added, referring to an internet slang term for "slacking off" popular among young people.

In recent months, the company has repeatedly said it will finish its unfinished projects and deliver them to buyers in a desperate bid to salvage its debts, despite having missed a payment of more than $1.2 billion earlier this month.

Earlier struggles to pay suppliers and contractors due to the debt crisis led to sustained protests from homebuyers and investors at the group's Shenzhen headquarters in September.

Since then, the bloated firm has tried to sell off its assets and shave down its stakes in other firms, with Hui paying off some of the debts using his own considerable personal wealth.

The provincial government of Guangdong -- where the firm is headquartered -- is currently overseeing Evergrande's debt restructuring process, but Beijing has yet to roll back any of the restrictions that prompted the housing crunch.

Having already blamed the firm's woes on "poor management and blind expansion", China's central bank vowed Saturday to protect the rights of homebuyers and promote the healthy development of the real estate market.

Asian shares dip as virus fears linger
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 27, 2021 - Asian shares opened slightly lower in thin holiday trade on Monday as fears lingered over the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index dipped 0.22 percent in early trade. Hong Kong was closed for a holiday.

Shanghai was marginally up, while Seoul was slightly down.

The highly transmissible Omicron strain has sent new cases skyrocketing across the globe, with countries reviving lockdowns, major sports leagues cancelling fixtures, and cruise ships returning to port with Covid-infected passengers.

Even in China, where a "zero-Covid" strategy has largely kept infections in check, officials recorded 206 new infections Sunday -- a count tiny by worldwide standards, but the country's biggest such figure in 21 months.

"A lack of direction is expected with a limited number of trading participants as the year-end holiday season begins," Mizuho Securities said in a note.

Senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Online Securities warned that "the sense of caution over the spread of infections (due to Omicron) remains strong".

Australian and British markets were also closed for the festive holiday.

In Friday trade before the Christmas break, markets wavered in similarly subdued trade.

A day earlier on Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended the last session before the long holiday weekend at a fresh record following a raft of mostly decent US economic data.

And a study released Sunday showed consumers were in the mood to spend over the holiday season, with retail sales soaring 8.5 percent over last year.

Online sales were up 11 percent and in-store sales up 8.1 percent between November 1 and Christmas Eve, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse study.

"Consumers splurged throughout the season," said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO of Saks Incorporated.

- Key figures around 0230 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.22 percent at 28,719.67

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 23,223.76 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.25 percent at 3,626.96

London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,372.10 points (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 35,950.56 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1319 from $1.1335

Pound/dollar: DOWN at 1.3411 from $1.3417

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.41 from 84.44 pence

Dollar/yen: UP at 114.43 yen from 114.38 yen

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.68 percent at $73.29 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.42 percent at $76.46 per barrel

leg/rbu

MASTERCARD

MIZUHO FINANCIAL GROUP

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Asia markets climb as Covid fears recede
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 24, 2021
Asian markets rose in thin trade on Friday, extending their rally as fears over the Omicron coronavirus variant faded and further positive economic data from the United States cheered investors. Studies indicating Omicron infections are less likely to result in hospitalisation and US approval of drugs from Merck and Pfizer to add to a growing arsenal of weapons against Covid have increased confidence that the pandemic will have less impact on the economy. "Omicron is looking more like a short-te ... read more