The Rise and Fall of a Commodities Giant in Asia

The profit warning landed at 10:37 p.m. Singapore time on a Tuesday in early May. It was the night before a holiday in the city-state where shares of Noble Group Ltd. are traded. The market would be closed the next day, giving investors more than 24 hours to digest the information. On Thursday the stock fell 32 percent, its biggest-ever one-day drop. It’s fallen further since.

Based in Hong Kong, Noble was once Asia’s largest commodity trader, with a market value of more than $10 billion, greasing the wheels of the global trade in metals, minerals, oil, and agricultural goods. It’s currently worth $336 million. “Noble is fighting for its life now,” Owen Gallimore, head of credit strategy at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said in a May 23 interview.