UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - Aug 21
(Adds further newspapers in final two paragraphs)
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Aug 21 (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.
FINANCIAL NEWS
-- China is considering allowing small and medium-sized firms to issue short-term bills in the interbank market as a way to expand their financing channels.
-- China's Ministry of Finance has put aside 3.51 billion yuan ($512 million) in special funds for small and medium-sized firms during the fiscal year 2008, up 20.3 percent from last year.
-- China's insurance regulator urged life insurers to increase risk awareness and press ahead with structural changes despite rapid 66.7 percent growth in life insurance premiums in the first seven months due to a rapid rise in bancassurance business.
CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)
-- China's National Audit Office has set up a new department to check the use of money in overseas arms of government organs and state-owned enterprises.
-- U.S. fast-food chain KFC, operated by Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), raised its prices in China for the second time this year because of inflation. The increase, starting from Monday, ranged from 0.5 yuan to 2.5 yuan for different food items.
PEOPLE'S DAILY
-- China will continue to face a tight supply of coal, electricity and oil in the next few months, the National Development and Reform Commission said.
CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL
-- Overseas firms approved to trade on China's stock market under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) scheme increased their holdings by about 10 percent in the second quarter of this year despite a market slump, a summary of nearly 900 listed companies' interim results showed.
-- Analysts said the Chinese stock market's jump of more than 7 percent on Wednesday was only a technical rebound sparked by vague rumours of market-friendly steps by the government. The market has little potential for a sharp rise in the near term, they said.
-- Some Chinese non-financial firms in Beijing and Shanghai are beginning to conduct individual foreign exchange business after new rules promulgated this week allowed them to do such business on a trial basis. Previously, foreign exchange business was confined to financial institutions in China.
SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS
-- Many mutual funds and other institutional investors said they did not build large positions despite Wednesday's powerful stock market rebound.
-- China will create an aviation manufacturing conglomerate as early as Aug. 28 via the merger of its two state aircraft makers, AVIC I and AVIC II.
SECURITIES TIMES
-- This week's official electricity price hike has lagged expectations and the market anticipates that the government will raise electricity prices further later this year, especially if coal prices continue to rise.
-- Analysts believe prices of oil and other commodities have limited potential to fall sharply again in the near term after a recent steep correction.
CHINA BUSINESS NEWS
-- Chinese authorities have not responded to a research report in which Frank Gong, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase, forecast that China was considering an economic stimulus package of at least 200 billion to 400 billion yuan.
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE NEWS
-- Unidentified officials with China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance denied or said they were unaware of market talk that China was considering a 200-400 billion yuan stimulus programme.
NATIONAL BUSINESS DAILY
-- An unnamed official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission said it was unlikely that China would launch a stock market stabilisation fund in the near term. ($1=6.854 Yuan) (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
