UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - Oct 17

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Friday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Since the start of this month, big shareholders in 42 listed companies have raised their stakes through purchases of 78.9 million shares from the market, with the encouragement of authorities.

-- Stabilising China's capital markets will require more than individual efforts by various government agencies -- it will need coordinated action, market experts say.

-- Money raised in initial public offers by Chinese companies, overseas and domestically, shrank 86 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter of this year.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- The government has invited five dairy companies to a meeting today to discuss the restructuring of Sanlu Group, the company at the centre of China's scandal over chemically contaminated milk.

-- Official market sources say short-selling of shares, which is due to be introduced soon on a trial basis, is not the same as pulling money out of the market. They expect short-selling to be much smaller than margin buying of shares in the initial stage.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- Sinolink Securities (600109.SS) estimated third-quarter net profit rose 42 percent to at least 175 million yuan ($25.7 million), because of a merger and the sale of financial assets.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- The parent company of PICC Property & Casualty (2328.HK), China's top non-life insurer, took over a stake of 32.35 percent in China Credit Trust Co from the Ministry of Finance.

-- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) (1398.HK), the country's biggest lender, opened its first branch in New York on Thursday.

-- The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said it would step up controls and supervision over short-term capital flows to safeguard the country's financial stability.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)