PRESS DIGEST - China - Aug 20

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Wednesday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- The latest official hike of electricity prices, announced on Tuesday, may help loss-making coal-consuming electricity producers to break even.

-- Analysts believe China's falling property market is unlikely to recover in the second half this year.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Over one-half of China's 1,500-plus listed companies have so far posted first-half earnings and the average net profit rose 28 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier.

-- President Ma Weihua of China Merchants Bank (600036.SS) (3968.HK) said the bank was likely to continue to post strong earnings in the second half of this year after it reported a 116 percent year-on-year jump in first-half net profit.

-- The government may issue rules before the end of the year to help boost the development of vehicles that use clean energy.

SECURITIES TIMES

-- Listed companies' interim reports show foreign institutional investors bought machinery and electronics stocks in the first half of this year.

-- A research report by China's Bank of Communications said China should stop raising bank reserve ratios as a series of hikes over the past two years has begun to hit banks' bottom lines.

CHINA BUSINESS NEWS

-- The China Insurance Regulatory Commission denied reports that the insurance watchdog had required insurers to trim their equity positions due to the weak stock market. (Compiled by Beijing and Shanghai Newsrooms; Editing by Edmund Klamann)