China and India Look to Boost Trade to $100 Billion

Chandrasekhar Atreya
17 Dec, 2010
New York City

China key stock indexes drop on inflation concerns. China and India agree to boost trade to $100 billion by 2015. Throughput at Shanghai port surges 22% in November. China

[R]5:00 PM Hong Kong, China – China key stock indexes drop on inflation concerns. China and India agree to boost trade to $100 billion by 2015. Throughput at Shanghai port surges 22% in November. China’s piped import of natural gas touches 4 billion cubic meters in the first year.[/R]

The key stock index in Shanghai fell today as commodities prices edged lower in local trading and resource stocks fell.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.15% or 4.40 to 2,893.74 and gained 1.85% for the week. The CSI 300 Index also lost 0.15% or 5.00 to close at 3,225.66 and for the week the index advanced 2.01%.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 0.20% or 46.07 to close at 22,714.85. For the week the index lost 1.93%.

The leaders of China and India on Thursday focused on expanding trade ties between the two nations. The two leaders played down the rivalry and China offered to permit India to a wider access to pharmaceutical and IT companies.

On Thursday, Wen Jiabao and Manmohan Singh agreed to work to increase trade between the two nations from the current $60 billion a year to $100 billion by 2015. Trade between the two nations has surged from less than $500 million fifteen years ago.

China has recently agreed to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan, began stapling visas for the people traveling from Kashmir region controlled by India and also invested in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan ports to circle India.

Throughputs at ports in Shanghai surged 22.3% in November from a year ago to 60.5 million tons, Shanghai Statistics Bureau said on Thursday.

The port handled 2.64 million TEUs of cargo boxes in November, up 19.7% from a year earlier.

China’s first pipeline for natural gas imports carried nearly 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Central Asia in the first year of its operations, a pipeline supervisor said on Thursday.

According to the local bureau for Entry and Exit Inspection and Quarantine in Horgos, a major land port in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the natural gas flow from Central Asia to China totaled 3.97 million cubic meters, or 2.8 million tons by last Tuesday.

China’s foreign trade is likely to be more than $2.9 trillion this year and the country expects its trade and international payments to be more balanced over the next five years, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Thursday.

Chen said that China will very likely become the world’s largest exporter and the second-largest importer by the end of this year on strong growth in foreign trade.

China Standard Software signed a strategic cooperation with the National University of Defense Technology on Thursday to mark the beginning of cooperation between the civil and military sectors for development of operating system software like Microsoft’s Windows.

“The cooperation is expected to boost software and IT service development and improve IT security level for China,” said Chen Ying, Software Division Director of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Thursday.

PetroChina Co’s 2011 profit may drop as much as 2.5% as it bears the brunt of a resource tax that is expanded to 12 provinces in the west, according to China International Capital Corp.

The profits may fall 5.5% if the reform is implemented nationwide, Bin Guan, an analyst at CICC, wrote in a report on Thursday. China started levying a 5% tax on oil and gas exploration in 12 western provinces starting December 1, Inner Mongolia Daily reported on Thursday.

China Datang Corp Renewable Power Co, China’s second-largest wind-power producer by capacity, dropped on its first day of trading in Hong Kong after its rival from China cancelled its share sale citing market volatility.

The stock declined as much as 6.9% to HK$2.17 in the morning today.

Stock Movers

Coal prices at the Qinhuangdao Port, the benchmark of China’s market for coal, fell 2.5% this week on improved inventory of stockpiles for the winter.

Datong Coal Industry dropped 1.7% to 21.85 yuan and shares of Shanxi Xishan Coal and Electricity Power fell 1.8% to 25.61 yuan.

PetroChina, the largest component of the stock index, dropped 1.11% to 11.56 yuan after oil prices fell to a two-week low.

Aluminum shares rallied on price rebound. Aluminum Corp of China gained 1.4% to 10.38 yuan and Guangdong Dongyangguang Aluminum Co advanced 5.5% to 19.14 yuan.

Chingqing Chang’an Automobile Co advanced 1.89% to 10.77 after receiving regulatory approval to raise no more than 4 billion yuan through a private placement to fund expansion and R&D plans.