China’s three largest banks reported huge profit jumps in the first quarter in what may mark a peak in earnings this year as government measures to curb loan growth and tackle inflation start to bite.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country’s largest lender, lifted net profit by 77 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier to Rmb33.1bn ($4.7bn) while Bank of China reported an 85 per cent increase to Rmb21.7bn.

China Construction Bank, the other state-owned bank listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets, said profit in the first quarter reached Rmb32.1bn. It did not report first-quarter earnings last year and did not provide a comparison. All three banks benefited from a reduction in the country’s corporate tax rate from 33 per cent to 25 per cent that came into effect on January 1.

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Post tags: Bank of China, china construction bank, ICBC, shanghai stock market
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Asia-Pacific stock markets on Tuesday retreated from seven-week highs hit the previous session, with Shanghai falling below the level marking a halving in value from its peak in October last year.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell by more than 3 per cent in early trading to as low as 3,007.866 – below the 3,062 level which marks a 50 per cent decline from the peak of 6,124.044 hit during trading on October 16, 2007, and less than half the closing level of 6,092.06 on that day. The index was down 3 per cent at 3,022.49 at the midday break. Shanghai was the best performer of Asia’s big exchanges in 2007 but shares there are now back to levels of late March last year. The market has been besieged by subprime worries and assessments by analysts that equities were overvalued.

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Post tags: Shanghai Composite Index, shanghai stock market
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China’s economy kept growing at a sizzling pace in the first quarter, but the nation’s inflation rate also remained high, at above 8%, the government said Wednesday. The trends prompted officials to raise banks’ reserve requirements for the third time this year to slow lending.

The government said China’s gross domestic product, or total output of goods and services, expanded 10.6% in the January-to-March period compared with a year earlier. Although that was slightly slower than the 11.9% pace for all of 2007, analysts had expected a sharper decline because of weakening exports and severe snowstorms that disrupted production and travel this winter.

Financial Times has a story on China’s stock market slump:

Shares in Shanghai have plunged as sharply in the past six months as they surged during the first part of 2007. The Shanghai composite index closed on Wednesday at 3,291 – down 46.3 per cent from its all-time high of 6,124 on October 16.

Shares on the bigger of mainland China’s two stock markets (the other is Shenzhen) are now worth pretty much the same as in early April last year. Shanghai was the best performer among in Asia’s big exchanges in 2007. It is now very much a bear market.

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Post tags: anti-inflation, overheated economy, shanghai stock market
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A year ago, investors like Guan Ling were ebullient. The mainland Chinese stock markets had climbed about 500 percent in two years, setting off a stock buying frenzy.

When experts periodically warned about the possibility of a bubble, prices dipped temporarily, then soared even higher, breaking records and inciting another mad dash to snap up equities.

“The market was going wild,” said Guan, 49, who a few years ago closed his real estate company to invest in stocks full time. “Everybody was talking about how much they had earned, how much more they would invest and which stocks had jumped 20 times, or even 30 times.”

That was last year. The Shanghai composite index has plunged 45 percent from its high, reached last October. The first quarter of this year, which ended Monday with a huge sell-off, was the worst ever for the market.

© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: overheated market, shanghai stock market, small investors
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Shanghai’s stock exchange says it is considering allowing big multinational companies to list shares.

China’s largest exchange may permit companies such as HSBC, Coca-Cola and Siemens – which have large business operations in the country – to trade. Que Bo, assistant general manager of Shanghai’s exchange said it was doing market research on the plan and expected to “get some results soon”. [Full Text]

[Image: Under the plan, Chinese may be able to invest in overseas firms, from AP.]

© Kate Zhao for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: HSBC, multinational companies, shanghai stock market
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