The People's Bank of China announced, on Wednesday, its intention to intensify its re-lending policy dedicated to financing share repurchases and increasing stock holdings, with the aim of maintaining the stability of the Chinese stock market.
China's Xinhua News Agency quoted a statement from the People's Bank as saying that, starting today (Wednesday), the interest on re-lending mechanism loans will be reduced by 25 basis points to 1 percent.
This mechanism is available to 21 national banks and 5 major commercial banks, and covers 100 percent of the value of the loans eligible to benefit from it. It has a duration of one year and can be extended if the banks need to do so.
Last Monday, the People's Bank said in a statement that it will implement financing operations for securities companies, investment funds, and insurance companies in a timely manner according to the debt swap mechanism, and will also increase the number of institutions participating in these operations, with a slight reduction in swap fees, adding that 31 financial brokerage companies and investment funds have submitted applications to obtain shares with a total value exceeding 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) in swap contracts.
Flynas's net profit decreased by 78 percent on an annual basis during the third quarter of 2026, reaching 27 million riyals ($7.2 million), compared to profits amounting to 120 million riyals ($32 million) in the same period last year.
On a quarterly basis, the company turned profitable, compared to a net loss of 240 million riyals ($64 million) in the second quarter of the current year.
The company said, in a statement published on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) website on Wednesday, that the decline in profits is mainly due to an increase in the cost of revenues by 11 percent to 1.92 billion riyals ($512 million). The fuel bill jumped by 51 percent to 666 million riyals ($177.6 million), remaining the largest component of the cost, in light of the continued rise in aviation fuel prices since the outbreak of the regional conflict in early March 2026.
The company's revenues increased by 6 percent to 2.23 billion riyals ($594.7 million), supported by improved revenues per unit of capacity, while low-cost aviation sector revenues rose by 9 percent to 2.17 billion riyals ($578.7 million).
In contrast, revenues from the Hajj sector declined by 67 percent to 19 million riyals ($5.1 million). As a result of the difference in timing of the Hajj season between the two years, after the season ended during the second quarter of 2026, while it extended into the third quarter of the previous year.
The company's shares rose by 3.26 percent to 40.58 riyals, following the announcement of the results.
Meta Platforms, the company that owns Facebook, began offering its first issuance of euro-denominated bonds on Wednesday, in a move that reflects the continuation of major technology companies to resort to debt markets to finance their accelerating investments in artificial intelligence, despite growing doubts about the strength of the boom that the sector is witnessing.
A memorandum issued by one of the issuance managers, seen by Reuters, showed that subscription books had been opened for the company's first issuance of multi-tranche bonds in euros, with maturities ranging between four and 38 years.
On Tuesday, Meta announced that it intends to raise $15 billion through the issuance of dollar-denominated bonds, divided into five tranches, at a time when the company is turning to debt markets to contribute to financing the acceleration of its investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The issuance comes as part of a growing wave of fundraising operations related to artificial intelligence, as companies seek to provide the necessary capital to establish data centers and expand computing capabilities and cloud services, despite their traditional reliance on their strong cash balances to finance growth.
Meta is the second major technology company to resort to European bond markets this week, after Alphabet, which owns Google, sold bonds worth 6 billion euros ($6.74 billion) on Monday, amid strong demand with subscription requests exceeding 17 billion euros.
The huge financing needs to expand artificial intelligence investments, along with questions about the returns that can justify these expenses, have put pressure on technology companies’ stocks and bonds in recent weeks. The Nasdaq index, which is dominated by technology stocks, fell by about 5 percent during October.
The introduction of “Meta” also comes in the wake of the widespread victory of the Democrats in the US midterm elections that took place on Tuesday, which reinforced fears that tight regulatory oversight will slow the rapid growth of the artificial intelligence sector.
Bond issuances in foreign currencies also allow companies to hedge the risks of exchange rate fluctuations associated with their global assets, while at the same time benefiting from relatively low borrowing costs in markets such as Europe.
European capital markets, with their depth and breadth, provide an attractive source of financing.
Meta shares were almost stable in trading on the European Tradegate platform on Wednesday, before the start of American trading.
According to the memorandum, Citibank and Morgan Stanley will manage the issuance.
