PRESS DIGEST - China - MARCH 19

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 19 (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

-- China's 26 leasing firms earned a combined profit of 210 million yuan ($30 million) in 2007, up 55.6 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said, adding that the sector still had great potential for development.

-- Housing prices in 70 large and mid-sized Chinese cities rose 10.9 percent year-on-year in February, 0.4 percentage points below the growth rate in January, according to government statistics.

-- Malaysia's second-largest bank CIMB has agreed to become a strategic investor in China's Yingkou Commercial Bank.

-- Renewable energy will account for 10 percent of China's overall energy consumption in 2010, up 2.5 percentage points from 2005, according to an energy blue print issued by the National Development and Reform Commission

SECURITIES TIMES

-- China's monetary tightening moves are not necessarily to blame for the recent slump in its stock markets, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said.

-- China's central bank may hike interest rates further even though this could lead to the inflow of more speculative money from overseas, said Ha Jiming, chief economist with China International Capital Corp.