PRESS DIGEST - China - Feb 4

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Monday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Most institutional investors say they expect the stock market to rebound in the last two trading days before the Lunar New Year, after last week's plunge. The policy environment has turned positive with news that regulators approved the launch of two new stock funds by mutual fund firms, which will raise up to a combined 14 billion yuan ($1.95 billion).

-- Chinese air conditioner sales rose 25 percent last year to 68.8 million units, with the three big makers combined taking over half the market for the first time. But growth is expected to slow this year, to around 8 percent for domestic sales and 6-8 percent for exports, according to Everbright Securities, as China's real estate market and the U.S. economy cool.

-- Over 1,000 shoe factories have shut down in southern China's Pearl River Delta region, because of rising labour costs and appreciation of the yuan.

-- Chinese open-ended mutual funds in January comfortably outperformed the overall stock market, where the main index .SSEC plunged 16.7 percent. Net asset value at stock funds fell only 8.47 percent, and fixed income funds lost only 0.83 percent.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Margin loans and margin lending of securities by brokerages on a trial basis are expected finally to begin this year, after the China Securities and Regulatory Commission published more rules covering it.

-- The stock market's plunge last month caused money invested in it to decrease for the first time in six months, by 30 billion yuan from the previous month to 1.77 trillion yuan.