UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - April 1

(Adds items)

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 1 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Tuesday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- China will try to increase the supply of grain and restrict the export of major grain products in order to stabilise domestic grain prices, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

-- China's securities watchdog said the country faced serious challenges in its crackdown on illegal fund-raising activities, part of its effort to establish proper order in the stock market.

-- A NASDAQ-style stock exchange, to be launched soon in China for growth firms, must have a strict mechanism to expel unqualified firms, according to proposals by securities houses, fund firms and private equity companies to the securities regulator, which has been soliciting public comment on new rules governing listings on the exchange.

-- China's urbanisation rate reached 44.9 percent by the end of 2007 and the country now has 656 cities, according to a report by the China Association of Mayors.

CHINA DAILY (www.chinadaily.com.cn)

-- China cut to five years the life sentence imposed on a migrant worker who withdrew 175,000 yuan ($25,000) from a malfunctioning ATM in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.