Insurance Claims of Rmb 233 million

123jump.com Staff
05 Jun, 2008
New York City

Stocks in Hong Kong rose as a retreat in oil prices relieved pressures on oil refiners. Recovering telecommunications stocks also positively impacted investor sentiment. However, price controls for coal producers affected mainland stocks. In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index rose 0.55% or 132.04 at 24,255.29 and in Shanghai CSI 300 Index fell 0.98% or 34.78 at 3,512.14.

[R]6:00AM New York, 6:00PM Hong Kong - China insurers pay Rmb223 million for earth quake losses. Auto exports rise to a record high of 70,000.[/R]

Stocks in Hong Kong rose as a retreat in oil prices relieved pressures on oil refiners. Recovering telecommunications stocks also positively impacted on investor sentiment. However, price controls for coal producers affected mainland stocks.

Market sentiment

In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index rose 0.55% or 132.04 at 24,255.29, and the China Enterprises Index or Hong Kong listed mainland shares, or H shares, dropped 0.23% or 30.72 at 13,355.04. In Shanghai trading CSI 300 Index fell 0.98% or 34.78 at 3,512.14.

Daily turnover on main-board fell to HK$63.7 billion from HK$78.91 billion yesterday.

China insurers pay Rmb 233 million for quake losses

The China Regulatory Commission reported today that by Tuesday China’s insurers had paid Rmb233 million of indemnities for quake losses from a total of 222,000 claims that have been filed.

Of the Rmb233 million yuan, Rmb142 million was paid for life insurance claims, while Rmb 91.51 million was paid to property claims.

The People''s Insurance Company of China (PICC) paid Rmb96 million from more than 190,000 claims by Wednesday, adding that claims will increase markedly in the next few days.

China auto exports rise 69.4%

China Daily reported today that China Association of Automobile Manufacturers statistics show that the country automobile exports advanced 69.4% on the year to record 71,000 in April.

Also, motor vehicle imports fell 7.19% from a month earlier to 37,700 and rose 58% from a year ago.

Auto imports fell 2.64% month-on-month to 42,222 cars and increased 38.44% from a year ago, while minivans rose 16.1% from a month earlier and 78.1% on the year at 3,166. Imports of off-road vehicles declined 13.6% month-on-month but rose 74% on the year to 18,574.

Shandong and Shaanxi to limit coal prices

Xinhua News Agency reported that the Shandong provincial government issued circular urging local producers to maintain thermal coal reserves sufficient for more than 15 days.

Similarly the vice governor of northern Shaanxi Province said last week local coal companies, especially large coal chemical industry groups, should not raise prices before September 15, despite anticipated increased demand.

The Chinese government ordered producers to fulfill existing contracts this month and produce an extra 2.56 million tons each month for the following three months and reduce prices.

Gainers & Losers

Hong Kong stocks rose following a two-day decline. China Netcom advanced 2% to HK$23.25 and China Telecom gained 0.6% after it said it had attracted interest from a number of strategic investors. However China Unicom fell 0.3%.

Oil refiner Sinopec rose 4.4% as oil prices fell.

However CNOOC fell 2.1% as crude oil for July delivery dropped 1.6% to $122.30 a barrel in New York yesterday as unexpectedly increased last week.

Coal prices also dropped as well. Yanzhou Coal declined 3% and China Shenhua slid 2.1% and China Coal edged down 3.4% after Shandong and Shaanxi provinces made interventions to stabilize coal prices.

Other commodity stocks slumped. Angang Steel tumbled 5.5% and Maanshan Iron & Steel dropped 3.3%. Cosco Pacific slid 3.9%.

HSBC Holdings rose 0.9% and China Mobile advanced 0.6%. Li & Fung also rose 3.4%.