PRESS DIGEST - China - July 2

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, July 2 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Thursday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- Beijing reported its first cluster of local infections of the H1N1 flu, with seven confirmed cases at a primary school.

-- China's national surveys on the health of schoolchildren showed that obesity among children aged 7 to 18 had increased fourfold from 1985 to 2000. No figures were given.

-- China is planning for installed nuclear power capacity of 86 gigawatts (gW) by 2020, up nearly 10-fold from the 9 gW capacity it had by the end of last year, according to two people familiar with the matter.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- In a telephone call with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Premier Wen Jiabao exchanged views on the global financial crisis and climate change.

-- Flooding in 22 regions of the country has caused direct economic losses of nearly 10.8 billion yuan ($1.58 billion).

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Central Huijin, a government-controlled investment agency that holds state stakes in banks and brokerages, said the expiry of a lock-up period on its holdings of Bank of China's (601988.SS) (3988.HK) A shares on Sunday would not mean a sell-off of its holdings or a major change in its policy toward holdings of shares in major state-owned financial institutions.

-- The Chinese brokerage sector's net profits may have risen 10 percent in first half of 2009 from a year earlier, with smaller brokerages showing a strong rebound, analysts said.

-- Thirty of the 46 state-owned firms under the Shanghai state-owned asset management body have submitted their three-year plans, including proposals to speed up industry consolidation.

-- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is planning further steps to curb the country's surging steel production, government sources said.

-- Baoshan Iron and Steel (600019.SS) has raised prices of some products for August but has not made a final decision on prices of key hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel products, traders said.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Chinese investors will be able to apply to open accounts for trading on the country's planned Nasdaq-style board for start-up firms starting on July 15.