Vanke Sales Falls 35%, Auto Sales Decline 6%

123jump.com Staff
09 Sep, 2008
New York City

Stocks in Shanghai rose but in Hong Kong fell. Cautious investors looked for bargains after stocks in Shanghai fell more than 60% from the beginning of the year. Airlines rose after the crude oil prices declined. Realtors fell after China Vanke reported third monthly sales decline in new homes sales. Sales in August fell 35% after dropping in June and July. China passenger car sales in August dropped 6%, first decline in three years.

[R]6:00AM New York, 6:00PM Hong Kong – China Vanke property sales declined 35% in August. Auto sales in the month fell 6%. Stocks in Hong Kong fell 1.5% and in Shanghai rose 0.6%.[/R]

Market Sentiment

In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng Index slipped 1.46% or 303.16 to 20,491.11, and the China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong listed mainland shares, or H shares, declined 2.79% or 311.09 to 10, 825.25. In Shanghai trading CSI 300 Index rose 0.59% or 12.63 to 2,139.14. Daily turnover on main-board was HK$47.9 billion from HK$68.4 billion yesterday.

August Auto Sales Decline

Auto sales in August fell 6%, a first decline in three years. The stock market plunge of 60%, rising inflation and the Beijing Olympics affected the sales in the month. Passenger car sales in the month were 451,300 and for the first eight months sales rose 13% to 4.55 million vehicles and sales of all vehicles increased 14% to 6.48 million units according to the latest data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

China Property Sales Falls 35.2% in August

Xinhua News Agency reported on its Web site today that China’s largest listed real estate developer China Vanke said property sales dropped 35.2% to Rmb4.07 billion in August from the same period a year ago. However in the first eight months of the year revenue advanced 5% to Rmb31.31 billion. The sales in July dropped 15% and fell 23% in June. New home prices in Shanghai and in other large cities have declined between 15% and 25% from a year ago.

The amount of property sold in the month under review fell 32.8% to 474,000 square meters, from a year earlier.

China Railway Investment Soars 37.5% in January-July Period

China’s railway investment between January and July increased 37.5% to Rmb133.7 billion. In the review period, trains carried 12.6% more passengers than the comparable period a year ago at 855.3 million passengers, while cargo volume advanced 6.8% to 1.94 billion tons from a year ago.

The ministry had earlier planned to invest Rmb1.25 trillion in railway building and renovation through 2010 and extend the train network by 17,000 kilometers.

On April 18 this year, China began the construction of the 1,318 km Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway, which is estimated to cost Rmb220.9 billion.

China’s Yuan Rise 10% Against Euro

Statistics from the China Foreign Exchange Trading System indicate that from the end of July to date the yuan rose 10.7% against the euro and 8.39% against the pound.

However from January to July the euro rose 7.75% and the pound gained 0.13%. From the beginning of the year, the yuan increased 6.71% against the U.S. dollar, 8.53% against the euro and 19.37% against the pound.

Gainers & Losers

Stocks in Hong Kong declined after Goldman Sachs downgraded the financial sector to “neutral” from “attractive” on forecasts that economic conditions will continue to deteriorate. The brokerage also slashed its earnings estimate on the banks by 6% to 7%.

China Construction Bank declined 1.6% and Bank of Communications fell 4.3% after being downgraded from “neutral” to “sell.”

CNOOC lost 3.5% after the rising dollar forced commodities to decline. Aluminum Corp of China shed 7% to HK$6.02, as Deutsche Bank lowered its price target on the stock to HK$5 from HK$8.

Hong Kong & China Gas rose 2% and Hong Kong Electric jumped 1%.

Property stocks also slumped on news that real estate sales declined 35% in August. Guangzhou R&F Properties plummeted 8.5%, Shimao Property dipped 7.6% and Greentown China slumped 6.6% to HK$5.1.

Shipping lines fell as the Baltic Dry Index dropped by 3% yesterday. China Shipping Development dipped 8.7%. China Communication Services advanced 6.8% after interim profit rose 11%.