UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - Dec 29
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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Monday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
FINANCIAL NEWS
-- China Everbright Bank will provide 60 billion yuan of new loans in 2009 to support infrastructure construction and industry upgrades amid China's push to revive sluggish economic growth.
CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)
-- Government officials across China are being urged to increase self-discipline and stand up against corruption during the New Year and Spring Festival holidays.
PEOPLE'S DAILY
-- China produced 42.121 million boxes of cigarettes from January to November, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, and the taxes paid by China's tobacco industry totalled 430 billion yuan ($62.86 billion) during the same period, up 18.1 percent year on year.
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
-- China's steel industry suffered a combined loss of 12.77 billion yuan ($1.87 billion) in November, with the number of loss-making steel makers rising to 48 from 42 in October, according to sources at the country's steel association.
-- Shanghai authorities have issued eight rulings designed to stimulate the real estate market by facilitating purchases of second homes; for example, a family's maximum subsidised housing loan will be raised to 600,000 yuan from 200,000 yuan.
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
-- The China Securities Regulatory Commission told listed companies to strictly obey rules on releasing their annual reports, in order to avoid leaks of information.
-- Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co (600320.SS) said it had signed a contract worth about $343 million to supply 87 container cranes to Dubai Ports World DPW.DI, with delivery due from 2009 through the first quarter of 2010.
-- Work has begun on legislation that will allow Chinese insurers to invest in real estate, industry sources say; the legislation is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, meaning investment would start in the second half. China Insurance Regulatory Commission chairman Wu Dingfu reiterated that rules would be revised to expand insurers' scope for investment in areas including equities.
-- Institutional investors sold stocks in the first half of last week and bought in the second half, for a net outflow from the market of 140 million yuan, according to fund industry data.
-- A 5 billion yuan design and production base for clean energy vehicles was established in Beijing, capable of making 5,000 clean energy buses and 400,000 fuel-efficient engines annually. Beiqi Foton Motor (600166.SS) is the major investor in the project, said Xu Heyi, chairman of Foton's state parent.
-- Ningxia Saima Industry Co (600449.SS) said it planned to invest 1.26 billion yuan in three cement production projects in the northwestern provinces of Qinghai and Gansu. It will also issue 630 million yuan of five-year corporate bonds to boost its working capital.
($1 = 6.84 yuan)
