PRESS DIGEST - China - Jan 25

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Friday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- China Securities Regulatory Commission chairman Shang Fulin said the country's capital markets had achieved a basis for healthy and stable development, although they face uncertainties. He said policy would continue to focus on promoting stable development, opening markets and increasing their international competitiveness while improving their ability to manage risk.

-- China Asset Management Co received regulatory approval to launch its new bond fund, the third new bond fund to receive approval since the end of last year. It is expected to start raising money after the Lunar New Year in early February, making at least 80 percent of its investments in bonds and bills.

-- China Construction Bank said in a research report that the stock market was likely to hit record highs this year, with the uptrend focused on the first half of this year, although volatility would increase.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Textile maker Shanghai Sanmao Enterprise (Group) Co (600689.SS)(900922.SS) said it expected to post a net profit for 2007, improving from a loss of 116.9 million yuan (16.2 million) in 2006, because of a profit on the sale of land.

-- Trading company Xiamen C&D Inc (600153.SS) said it expected to report that net profit jumped at least 50 percent in 2007 from 433.9 million yuan in 2006, boosted by continued expansion of its business.

-- Retailer and real estate developer Fujian Dongbai Group (600693.SS) reported net profit, excluding extraordinary items, surged 35 percent to 57.3 million yuan, as revenue climbed 26 percent to 1.12 billion yuan.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- Xi Jinping, who sits on the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo, met with Gennady Zyuganov, president of the Communist Party of Russia, in Beijing on Thursday.

-- The number of criminal cases in the southern province of Guangdong dropped to below 80,000 for the first time in eight years in 2007, with robbery cases falling 37.3 percent from 2006.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- Almost 17 million people in Sichuan province do not have access to safe drinking water, resulting in many cases of esophageal cancer and gastrointestinal diseases in the countryside, an official said on Thursday.

-- The couple caught on closed circuit television kissing and hugging at a metro station in Shanghai said they would seek to resolve the issue through negotiations with the metro operator, which has apologised for leaking the video on the Internet. ($1 = 7.20 yuan)