UPDATE 1-PRESS DIGEST - China - March 17

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 17 (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.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

-- China needs to build reserves in more types of consumer goods in an effort to tackle inflation, said Huang Hai, assistant commerce minister. He said Beijing has built up reserves for grains, vegetable oil, sugar, pork and tea as well as temporary reserves for some vegetables.

-- China should develop asset-backed structured products such as medium-term notes and allow more players including stock investment funds, social security funds and corporate pension funds into the inter-bank market to boost the development of the country's bond market, said Liu Shiyu, vice central bank governor.

CHINA DAILY

-- Religious leaders and local government officials in Tibet condemned Friday's riots that damaged religious peace and order in Lhasa, the paper said.

-- The Beijing Olympic torch will be lit by the sun's rays concentrated through a concave glass in ancient Olympia, Greece on March 24, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games.

FINANCIAL NEWS

-- China's regulators must act promptly to support China's stock market, because it is difficult and costly to regain investor confidence once it is lost, according to a commentary published in the official paper.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

-- Shanghai International Airport (600009.SS), which operates the city's main international airport, said its operations were normal despite a sharp fall of its share price from March 12 to March 14. The airport said last week that a new fee structure would reduce its income by about 10 percent, triggering a tumble in its shares.

-- There is no need for China to revise the way it calculates its consumer price index as the current method basically reflects individuals' actual consumption patterns, said Xie Fuzhan, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

-- Bank of China (601988.SS)(3988.HK) will speed up its acquisitions overseas this year and is considering moves in the Americas, Asia Pacific and other areas, Chairman Xiao Gang said.

-- If China's benchmark stock index .SSEC remains below 4,000 points, it would not be beneficial for development and innovation in the country's capital markets, said Liu Jipeng, a professor at Chinese University of Politics and Law.