Healthy Gains in China Home Sales, Air Travel

Chandrasekhar Atreya
21 Sep, 2010
New York City

China region indexes gained fractionally ahead of holidays. Shanghai port surpassed Singapore as the number of containers handled at the port surged 20% in August. Passenger air travel passengers and new home sales in Shanghai continue to rise.

[R]5:00 PM Hong Kong, China – China region indexes gained fractionally ahead of holidays. Shanghai port surpassed Singapore as the number of containers handled at the port surged 20% in August. Passenger air travel passengers and new home sales in Shanghai continue to rise.[/R]

China region stock indexes closed fractionally higher but trading volumes tumbled as investors were cautious before the holidays.

The CSI 300 Index in China added 0.27% or 7.65 to close at 2,857.48. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 0.11% or 25.25 to close at 22,002.59.

Sale of new homes continued to rise in Shanghai last week amid a recovery in buying sentiment while average prices fell slightly on a reduced supply of high-end homes.

Sales of new homes, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, climbed 9% to 278,000 square meters between September 13 and September 19, extending the rally for the fourth week in a row, Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co said Monday. The average price slid 2% to 19,610 yuan per square meter for the period.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that China has not done everything that needs to be done on its currency, and that the United States is going to enforce its trade laws more effectively than it has in the past.

“What we’ve said to them is you need to let your currency rise in accordance to the fact that your economy is rising, you are getting wealthier, you are exporting a lot,” Obama said.

Shanghai surpassed Singapore to become the world’s biggest container port in August on a strong recovery in exports, according to the local port authority.

The port’s container turnover jumped 20.7% in August from a year earlier to a record 2.64 million 20-foot equivalent units. In the first eight months of 2010, 19.06 million TEUs were handled according to Shanghai General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.

Mainland airlines carried 26.3 million passengers in August, up 16.1% from a year earlier, as demand boomed, the aviation regulator said Monday.

The number of passengers flying on international routes soared 33.5% to 1.9 million, outperforming the growth of 14.9 or 24.4 million passengers that flew domestically, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its Web site.

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co and SAIC Motor Corp will set up a laboratory to jointly conduct research in new steel products to cut vehicle weight, the companies said Monday.

Chinese cars are now 8% to 10% heavier than overseas competing models while commercial vehicles are more than 10% heavier. The weight of locally made cars should be reduced by 30% to 35% by the year 2020 and that could lead to a 20% to 25% reduction in average fuel consumption,” said Yang Shuyi, a senior engineer at SAIC.

Installed power generation in China crossed 900 million kilowatts after a reactor under the second phase of Ling’ao Nuclear Power Plant began operations in Guangdong Province Monday, the chief of the nation’s top economic planner said.

Hailing the achievement as a new stage of development, Zhang Ping, Director at the National Development and Reform Commission said at a forum held in Beijing that starting from a weak basis, China has explored a path of healthy development for the country’s electricity industry.

Deutsche Bank AG announced Monday it completed its first yuan debt offering with a 200 million yuan self-led deal, a step towards developing Hong Kong’s yuan debt market as a liquid and viable source of yuan funding for foreign issuers.

Comprising 2-year certificates of deposit, the deal was priced with a 2% fixed semi-annual coupon, and was sold to private bank investors. The island nation’s yuan deposit stands at 103.7 billion yuan, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Hong Kong’s net output in all service activities rose an annual 6.3% in the second quarter, the Census & Statistics Department said Monday.

Net output in the wholesale, retail and import-export trades, plus the restaurant and hotel sector, grew 16.3%, following a 19.8% rise in the first quarter, said the department, adding that buoyancy in trade underpinned strong growth.

China may achieve its long-term plan of generating 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power four to five years ahead of schedule, China National Radio said citing Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration.