PRESS DIGEST - China - May 14

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, May 14 (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 SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- China's national treasury plans to allocate investments of 32.8 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) this year and about 30 billion yuan next year to support development of the country's biotech industry, the State Council said on Wednesday.

-- Margin requirements on Chinese futures exchanges rose to 70 billion yuan from 46 billion yuan at the end of last year, thanks to trading participation by securities brokerages.

-- Bank loans provided to property developers leapt in Shanghai in the first quarter, indicating that the government has encouraged the industry after tightening loans last year.

-- The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Wednesday it had transferred the power of approving some foreign exchange businesses from the central government to local branches.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- China Yangtze Power Co Ltd (600900.SS) will announce its plan to acquire 18 generators from the state-owned parent as part of its restructuring scheme, sources close to the situation said.

-- Datang International Power Generation Co Ltd (601991.SS) said it would participate in the restructuring of Yuneng Group, a leading power provider in the western city of Chongqing. Datang would take a 51 percent stake in the company and will run Yuneng's electricity generating business.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- Jilin Chemical Fibre Co Ltd (000420.SZ) said it has shut down one production line after a gas leak which caused more than 450 workers to be hospitalised.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- China may leapfrog Japan to have the most say after the United States in the International Monetary Fund, a senior IMF official said.

-- China will allow non-deposit-taking institutions to offer consumer loans, a new measure to stimulate domestic consumption.

-- China will spend 62.8 billion yuan ($9.21 billion) in one and a half years to support 11 national research programmes including numerically controlled machine tools, trunk-line aircraft, broadband wireless mobile communication and high-end central processing units and software.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- China's exports to countries with which it has signed free trade agreements grew faster then to other countries.

-- Shanghai city government said it will support the Shanghai Futures Exchange to gradually introduce crude oil, gasoline, diesel, bitumen and other energy and chemical futures.