China Govt Revenues Up 26%; PetroChina Falls

Chandrasekhar Atreya
27 Aug, 2010
New York City

Stocks in China moved sideways to close marginally higher. China

[R]5:00 PM Hong Kong, China – Stocks in China moved sideways to close marginally higher. China’s fiscal revenue for the first half rose 25.7% to 5 trillion yen. PetroChina second quarter net increased less than expected 4%. China Unicom first half net plunged 62% on 3G roll out expenses.[/R]

Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China moved sideways in trade today and while there was a marginal gain in the mainland benchmark index there was a minimal drop in the island city’s benchmark index. PetroChina second quarter net increased less than expected 4%.

Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 0.07% or 14.71 to close at 20,597.35. The CSI 300 Index in China gained 0.3% or 8.47 to close at 2,858.57.

China’s fiscal revenue rose 25.7% in the first half of 2010 from a year ago to 5.1 trillion yuan, according to Finance Minister Xie Xuren. However the increase in revenues is expected to slowdown.

Profits of Chinese industrial enterprises in 24 regions rose 48% from a year ago to 1.88 trillion yen in the first seven months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics Said Friday.

The growth rate was 10.7 percentage points lower than that in the first six months, according to a statement on the NBS Web site. The survey covered industrial enterprises with business revenues above 5 million annually and covered all of the mainland provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, except the Inner Mongolia and Tibet autonomous regions; Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, and Yunnan provinces and Chongqing.

The government in China will use multiple monetary policy tools and further improve liquidity management, and continue to guide credit growth, Zhang Ping, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a report delivered to the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature.

PetroChina Co reported a worse-than-expected 4% rise in second quarter earnings as weak refining margins offset gains from higher crude oil prices.

The refiner earned 32.8 billion yuan in the quarter ended June, well below the 34.13 billion yuan by eight analysts polled by Reuters, according to its interim results announced Thursday.

China Unicom Ltd, one of the country’s three major state-owned phone carriers, said its first half net plunged 62% due to costs of rolling out its 3G network. Profit for the six months ended June, was 2.5 billion yuan down from 6.6 billion yuan a year earlier, the company said Thursday.

Net income from 93 startup firms listed on ChiNext, China’s Nasdaq-style board, grew 26% in the first half of the year from a year earlier, slower than the average growth of companies listed on the main boards.

As of Wednesday the 93 firms earned a combined 2.67 billion yuan till June, rising 26% from a year earlier period, compared with a 42% profit increase for the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards. The 373 companies listed on the Shenzhen Small and Medium Enterprise Board which had released first half results by Wednesday earned a combined 22 billion yuan in the period, rising 42% from a year earlier.

Comparable net profits of 105 companies listed on the Nasdaq-style Growth Enterprise Market rose 25.56% from a year earlier in the first half of the year, lagging far behind companies earnings listed on the main board.

First half net of 1,044 companies listed on the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen surged by 47.8%. The GEM expansion was also far behind the 43% growth in the first half growth of the country’s small and medium enterprises board said China Securities Journal.

The above ground construction of Shanghai Tower, which will be the country’s tallest skyscraper, will begin in October.

The developer signed Thursday, the steel structure process with Shanghai Grand Tower Steel Structure Co for the above-ground construction. The tower in the Lujiazui area in Pudong New Area, is expected to be completed in 2014.

A Chinese mainland company will list on Taiwan’s stock exchange for the first time in September, underlining the improving economic ties between the two. Taiwan Stock Exchange spokesman Stanley Chu said Thursday Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd, one of China’s top five shipbuilders, plans to raise NT$4.08 billion from a Taiwan Depository Receipt listing.

China’s central bank carried out its regular open market operations today, drawing 91 billion yuan or $13.37 billion of liquidity from the money market this week. The liquidity tightening this week came after the People''s Bank of China, pumped 41 billion yuan into the money market last week.

In its open market operations today, the PBOC sold 80 billion yuan of three-year bills at a yield of 2.65%, while it issued three-month bills worth 17 billion yuan with a yield of 1.5704%.

On Thursday, the PBOC also conducted 91-day repurchase agreement operations at a yield of 1.57%, taking 30 billion out of the money market. The central bank drained another 24 billion yuan through three-month bills sold on Tuesday. Offsetting 60 billion yuan of bills and repurchase agreements that matured this week, the PBOC realized a net liquidity tightening of 91 billion yuan this week.

China will invest $13 billion in Mozambique over the next five years to develop tourism, industrial, mining and energy projects, the Noticias reported, citing Planning and Development Minister Aiuba Cuereneia of Mozambique.