Trading in bonds of China Evergrande Group, the country’s second-largest real estate developer by sales, was halted on Friday, following a plummet in the prices of its debt and shares after a leaked document seemed to suggest the company was seeking a government bailout.

On Friday morning, the Shanghai Stock Exchange halted trade for half an hour in two Evergrande onshore bonds due to “abnormal fluctuations” after the company’s share price dropped 30% from slightly below 90 yuan (US$13.2) to as low as 67 yuan per 100 yuan.

The shares and debt prices of the property group continued to dive a second day after Chinese social media users circulated a letter purportedly from Evergrande calling for the Guangdong provincial government to back its asset restructuring plan for its A-share backdoor listing.

The letter added that the debt-laden company would face a Jan. 31 deadline to repay 130 billion yuan if it failed to carry out the reorganization.

Evergrande issued a statement later in the day to say that the document was fabricated in an attempt to defame the company and cause serious damage to its reputation.

Access to the social media site that exposed the document has since been disabled for violating China’s national cybersecurity law.

But the statement did not seem to help slow the dive. The company’s share price tumbled on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as well while prices of its offshore U.S. dollar bonds also recorded a significant drop.

Kevin Tsui, an associate professor of economics at Clemson University, pointed out that the sharp decline in Evergrande’s bond prices was the result of its high default risk and prevailing worries that its bonds would “likely become waste paper.”

Rating agency S&P downgraded Evergrande’s credit outlook to negative on Friday, saying the company’s short-term debts had “continued to surge.” But it added that the risk of a liquidity crunch was “still low.”

S&P had previously expected Evergrande to be able to settle its short-term debts.

Securities firm JPMorgan Chase maintained its overweight rating, saying that the market had “overreacted.”

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange had approved Evergrande to spin off its property management business for its launch in the A-share market, said Bloomberg, which had earlier revealed Evergrande’s plan to amass US$3 billion for its listing.

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