PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - July 30

HONG KONG, July 30 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES

-- Investment bank UBS says mainland lenders will see a slowdown in the growth of earnings from the 50 percent jump this year to just 7 percent in 2009.

-- Hong Kong Equestrian Company has raised the temperature of the stables for competition horses after some teams complained.

APPLE DAILY

-- Sources say Standard Chartered (2888.HK) is about to add birthday leave on top of employees' benefits as Hong Kong lenders try different means to retain workers in the volatile job market.

MING PAO DAILY NEWS

-- China Telecom (0728.HK) announced the launch of its short-term debt worth 10 billion yuan. The one-year coupon is for financing its investment into the CDMA mobile network.

SING TAO DAILY

-- Workers in Shenzhen are now allowed to appy for individual travel visas to visit Hong Kong Disneyland.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Bank of China (3988.HK) has made its first major acquisition in Europe, paying 9 million Swiss francs for 30 per cent of Geneva-based Heritage Fund Management, according to an online announcement by the bank.

-- The huge inflows of hot money in the mainland economy are a time bomb that could devastate the country's financial system, according to a report by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1398.HK).

THE STANDARD

-- Ten days before the Olympics, Beijing Capital International Airport (0694.HK) issued a profit warning for its 2008 interim results on falling demand and rising costs.

-- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (0981.HK) hopes to return to the black in the fourth quarter as it plans to exit the unprofitable dynamic random access memory business.

SING PAO

-- Workers of Nestle Hong Kong ended their industrial action after they accepted a package with increased commission rates. Transport workers of distilled water company Aqua-Tek started a similar strike, but the company, said to be in fear of losing market share, reached an agreement with the workers after just half a day.

WEN WEI PO

-- Shenzhen property values have dropped 35 percent since March, according to Hong Kong real estate agency Land Power. The company also said the number of flat purchases by Hong Kong buyers had dropped nearly 30 percent in the first half.

TA KUNG PAO

-- The Children's Investment Fund, partial shareholder of The Link REIT (0823.HK) -- management firm of public estate shopping arcades and car parks -- has significant first year losses of about U$1 billion and it is said to be possibly selling its holding in The Link for cash. The Link's chairman said the two sides had not had such discussions.

For Chinese newspapers, see...............[PRESS/CN]

For Taiwan newspapers, see............[PRESS/TW]