PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - Aug 14

HONG KONG, Aug 14 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES

-- Decades-old shops and establishments in Central are being forced out of their locations as landlords double rental rates in the rising market. There is now a short supply of shop space in the district.

APPLE DAILY

-- Affected by lower total market turnover, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388.HK) reported an interim net profit of HK$2.974 billion, up 28 percent on-year, but near the lower end of market expectations.

-- An unknown virus has killed a nine-year-old girl only three hours after she was admitted to a hospital with a heart condition.

MING PAO DAILY NEWS

-- Shares in Country Garden (2007.HK) fell eight percent on Wednesday after fund houses cut their respective targets. SG predicted HK$2.77 a share while the stock closed at HK$3.90.

SING TAO DAILY

-- Sir Run Run Shaw's media production firm Shaw Brothers 0080.HK said it will sell over 123,000 square feet of farm land to Shaw's wife, Mona Fong, for HK$25.2 million.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- China Unicom (0762.HK) plans to invest 100 billion yuan on its network over the next two years as it prepares for the launch of 3G mobile services.

-- Angang Steel (0347.HK) says it is expecting slower growth in steel demand on the mainland in the second half and anticipates a squeeze in industry profit margins as production costs rise faster than product prices.

THE STANDARD

-- Hang Lung Properties (0101.HK) chairman Ronnie Chan said on Wednesday his company would not hire retired civil servants. Chan said while civil servants had useful experience, his company has not hired any in the past 10 years to avoid the sort of controversy that has arisen since former housing chief Leung Chin-man joined New World China (0917.HK) on August 1.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

-- Mainland banking plays fell sharply on Wednesday, dragging down the China Enterprise Index .HSCE for three percent to close at 11,111. The Hong Kong bourse has had a four-day losing streak.

WEN WEI PO

-- Smaller local lender Chong Hing Bank (1111.HK) saw a 65 percent decline in interim profit attributable to shareholders to HK104.8 billion for the first half of this year. The bank explained it had made a provision reaching HK$153 million on its Structured Investment Vehicle exposure.

TA KUNG PAO

-- Mechanise trading group Li & Fung (0494.HK) reported an 18 percent on-year increase in its interim net profit to HK$1.238 billion for the first half of this year. Turnover for the period jumped 25 percent and the company expects it is to maintain that growth in business in the second half.

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