Saturday, October 4, 2008

Beijing pre-construction house sales dips 76 pct in September

Pre-construction sales of Beijing residential units dipped 76 percent in September from the same month last year, figures from an industry website show.

In total, 2,788 pre-construction units were sold last month, a daily average of 93 units, according to statistics from the Beijing Real Estate Trade Management website under the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee.

The figure was the lowest among publicized monthly figures in the past three years, the website said on Thursday. It represented declines of 29 percent from August and 42 percent from July.

"It was really worrisome," said Li Wenjie, general manager for north China business at the Beijing-based real estate broker Centaline China. Traditionally, September is usually the busiest season for Chinese developers.

Judging from the September figures, Li said Beijing property sales had entered a downward trend. As demand weakened, supply built up. Through September, residential buildings in the capital available for pre-construction sales rose 46 percent from January 1 to reach 113,185 units, said the website.

House prices in Beijing increased 8.9 percent in August from the same period last year but stayed at the same level as in July.It was the first time it didn't rise month on month this year, statistics show.

In Shanghai, about 290,000 square meters of housing were sold in the first 20 days of September, around 20 percent of the figure in the same period in 2007, according to the research institute under the property information provider Sofun.com.

Xue Jianxiong, director of the Shanghai Uwin real estate research center, said consumers were anticipating lower prices amid the market correction. Most developers, however, were reluctant to offer substantial discounts in hope of government stimulus for the cooling sector.

Housing prices in China's 70 big- and mid-size cities grew 5.3 percent year on year in August, slowing 1.7 percentage points from July, official data revealed.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a report last month the country's developers would suffer further capital strain in the second half as the lending activity of banks might continue to shrink.

Inadequate liquidity had forced developers to slow price increases or even lower prices in some Chinese cities as the government tightened credit supply over property development to bring surging house prices in control.

Source: Xinhua

Hong Kong stocks end lower on U.S. economy worries

Hong Kong shares fell 2.90 percent on Friday, as investors are concerned about slowing economic growth and uncertainty pending the result of the U.S. lawmaker's vote on the banking bailout bill.

The blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 528.71 points, or 2.9 percent, to end at an intraday low of 17,682.40, down 5.4 percent from a week earlier. Turnover totaled 53.28 billion HK dollars , down from 69.66 billion HK dollars Thursday, and averaged 62.43 billion HK dollars this week.

The Hang Seng index gave up 4.9 percent this week on worries over a likely recession in the world's largest economy despite a 700 billion U.S. dollars financial bailout package that is awaiting approval from U.S. lawmakers.

Analysts said investors will remain cautious even if the U.S. House passes the amended bill later Friday, because corporate earnings in the near future look dim as global economies wither.

Analysts said 17,000 would be a good support for next week, as some people expect the Chinese mainland to further ease tightening measures on the property sector after the week-long national holiday.

Developers tumbled on expectations of falling home prices. Cheung Kong fell 3.1 percent to 84.20 HK dollars, Sun Hung Kai Properties was down 3.5 percent at 74.00 HK dollars, and Hang Lung Properties fell 5.6 percent to 17.00 HK dollars.

Weaker oil prices also dragged oil firms lower. PetroChina fell5.3 percent to 7.71 HK dollars, Sinopec was down 2.6 percent at 6.08 HK dollars, while CNOOC was off 5.9 percent at 8.33 HK dollars.

Hang Seng Bank extended its losses, ending 5.9 percent lower at 123.70 HK dollars. The stock lost 14 percent in two days, after the bank disclosed its exposure to Washington Mutual Bank debt. Hang Seng Bank described the loss as 'immaterial,' but it didn't disclose details.

Also among large caps, China Mobile lost 3.26 percent at 77.1 HK dollars, HSBC was down 0.40 HK dollars at 123.2 and China Life shed 3.22 percent to 28.55 HK dollars.

Bloomage Biotechnology, a Chinese pharmaceutical company, ended at 1.04 HK dollars on its debut, or 4 percent above its 1.00 HK dollars IPO price.

China Resources Logic soared nearly 30 percent to end at 2.85 HK dollars after it said it secured rights to buy more gas projects from its parent company.

Source: Xinhua

Hong Kong banks meet on Lehman Brothers bonds as risk-disclosure duty urged

Hong Kong's banks agreed on Friday to facilitate member banks in handling issues related to various Lehman Brothers investment products and increase their manpower to expedite the handling of specific complaints and inquiries arising from the Incident.

After their first meeting here on Friday, the task force formed by the Hong Kong Association of Banks to deal with the issues arising from local investors' holding of the Lehman Brothers mini-bonds also agreed to follow up with Lehman's liquidators and trustees, with a view to passing onto affected customers more information concerning the collateral and redemption arrangement.

Since various investment products are involved in Lehman's mini- bonds, the task force also consented to form subgroups to conduct detailed analysis on each category of investment products and promised to maintain close contact with the regulators on the development of the Incident, endeavoring to help the affected customers.

In view of widespread public concern over the marketing of retail structured products triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong issued a circular Friday requiring all issuers of retail investment products to review whether risk disclosure and product descriptions are adequate, given the current market conditions.

Directed at issuers of all retail investment products, including retail collective investment schemes and retail structured products, the circular said marketing materials issued "must be clear, fair and present a balanced picture with adequate and prominent risk disclosure" in compliance with all applicable regulations.

"Recent events show that investors need to be presented with a clearer picture of product risks they need to understand better how products will operate in extreme market conditions or in the face of bankruptcy," said SFC Chief Executive Officer Martin Wheatley.

"We are reminding issuers of retail investment products, therefore, that they must exercise their duty more diligently within the current regulatory framework to disclose risks and explain their products," he added.

The circular further reminds issuers to include in their marketing materials "upfront, prominent and adequate warnings" of all risks, including "new risks" emerging from prevailing market conditions.

Issuers seeking authorization from the SFC to market retail investment products also are advised to "revise their documents inlight of the recent market events."

According to SFC statistics, Lehman Brothers issued a total of mini-bonds worth 12.7 billion HK dollars and more than 10,000 citizens in Hong Kong were estimated to have bought them through banks or brokerages.

Source: Xinhua

Less trash around Tian'anmen Square during national day

Environmental sanitation workers cleared 8.52 tons of trash around Beijing's Tian'anmen Square on Wednesday during the Chinese National Day, one-third less than what was collected a year ago.

The drop was caused by three factors, said Zhang Zhiqiang, regulator-in-chief with the headquarters for the environmental hygiene guarantee on Tian'anmen Square under the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group Co. Ltd.

As security checks were imposed when tourists entered the square, situated in the heart of the capital, many visitors wrongly thought they weren't allowed to bring liquids into the area. This was evident by a notable decrease in the number of bottles collected.

As a result of the publicity generated by the "green Olympics," visitors seem to have had developed better awareness when traveling in post-Olympic Beijing; many left garbage in trash bins, while an increasing number of people had learned to put trash inside plastic bags they had brought and subsequently took away.

Tian'anmen Square had fewer tourists on Wednesday, the very day when the country celebrated the 59th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The area was cordoned off for four hours in the morning to make way for the holding of a grand floral wreath laying ceremony before the Monument to People's Heroes at the southern end of the square.

Before the ceremony, however, 190,000 people from different parts of China gathered to observe a special national flag raising ceremony taking place at 6:05 a.m..

"More than 500 environmental hygiene workers were working around the Tian'anmen area at 8 p.m. on Tuesday to keep the area tidy and clean," Zhang said. "They also combed the square in groups and used dustpans to collect trash such as newspapers, pieces of paper, playing cards and discarded food packages the next day."

In addition, portable toilets were installed around the square to maintain hygiene, according to Zhang.

Elsewhere, sanitation workers on Wednesday cleared more than 60tons of trash from the central district of the Olympic Park, home to the Birds' Nest Olympic Stadium and Water Cube National Aquatic Center.

On that day alone, 354,000 tourists toured the central district of the park, according to statistics released by the Office of the Beijing Municipal Leading Group for Holiday Tourism Work, which monitors 21 key sites around the city.

The national holiday, which marked the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China on Wednesday, ends on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua

Ferry service suspends as Higos moves inland in south China

Ferry service on Qiongzhou Strait in south China was suspended as of 5 p.m. on Friday as Higos, the 17th tropical storm of the year, neared landfall.

Authorities in two airports in Hainan Province, Meilan International Airport in Haikou, the provincial capital, and Fenghuang International Airport in Sanya, a seaside resort on the southern tip of the island, however, said arrivals and departures at their respective airports were not affected for the time being.

In total, 24,115 fishing boats in the province had returned to port and coastal fisheries staff had gone home. All recreational sporting activities on the air or sea were also suspended on Friday, said Lin Mingzhong, Hainan Provincial Office for Flood, Wind and Drought Control deputy director.

He predicted Higos would have minor impact on the island as the rainfall was expected to be around 100 mm. It was likely to affect some small reservoirs as their current water level was high.

The local weather observatory issued a forecast for dangerous weather at 5 p.m., saying the eye of the storm was monitored at 18.4 degrees north latitude and 111.2 degrees east longitude at 3 p.m.. It was offshore about 130 km to the southeast of Wenchang City on the east coast of Hainan and packing wind of up to force 8.

The forecast said Higos was moving northwestward at a speed of 20 km per hour and would make landfall anywhere on the eastern coast from Wenchang, Qionghai to Wanning or shave the area and approach western Guangdong Provinces on Friday night.

Affected by Higos, the sea off the east coast of Hainan, the Qiongzhou Strait and Beibu Gulf, as well as off of Sanya, Ledong and Danzhou, plus ports in these places, would get strong wind beginning on Friday night through to Sunday.

In addition, all of Hainan would experience torrential rain from Friday night to Saturday daytime. The temperature there would hover around 22 degrees Celsius to 31 degrees.

The National Meteorological Center on Friday issued an orange alert, the second highest warning, warning vessels to take shelter in ports. It urged local authorities to prepare for emergencies with the upcoming strong wind and rainstorms.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters also activated a third degree emergency response on Friday to warn of possible flooding.

Higos was formed on Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean, coming on the heels of storms Jangmi and Hagupit, which combined had killed about 20 people in China.

Qiongzhou Strait separates Hainan from the Chinese mainland. Apart from flights, ferry services on Qiongzhou Strait are the only way to access Hainan Island.

Source: Xinhua

Tropical storm Higos lands in S China

Higos, the 17th tropical storm of the year, landed in China's southernmost Hainan Province Friday evening, local observatory said.

Higos landed at 10:15 p.m. in Longlou Town, Wenchang City, 19.6 degrees north latitude and 111.0 degrees east longitude. The wind speed at the eye of the storm was 18 meters per second, according to the Hainan Provincial Meteorological Observatory.


Passengers debark as two officials check at the Qinglan port in south China's Hainan Province Oct. 3, 2008.
It was forecast to weaken and move northwest towards the coastal areas of western Guangdong Province.


Delayed trucks are parked at the Xiuying port in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province Oct. 3, 2008, due to the suspension of ferry service.
In total, 24,115 fishing boats in the province had returned to port and coastal fisheries staff had gone home. All recreational sporting activities on the air or sea were also suspended on Friday, said Lin Mingzhong, Hainan Provincial Office for Flood, Wind and Drought Control deputy director.


A rescue ship waits at a port in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province Oct. 3, 2008. Higos, the 17th tropical storm this year, will drop heavy rain on parts of south China's Guangdong and Hainan provinces over the next two days, the country's National Meteorological Observatory said on Thursday.
He predicted Higos would have minor impact on the island as the rainfall was expected to be around 100 mm. It was likely to affect some small reservoirs as their current water level was high.

Higos was formed on Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean, coming on the heels of tropical storms Jangmi and Hagupit, which combined had killed about 20 people in China.


Vessels drive back to a port in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province Oct. 3, 2008. Higos, the 17th tropical storm this year, will drop heavy rain on parts of south China's Guangdong and Hainan provinces over the next two days, the country's National Meteorological Observatory said on Thursday.
Source: Xinhua

Officials suspended from duty over boat capsizing in SW China

Two local officials were suspended from duty and another one was dismissed after a boat capsizing accident in southwest China's Guizhou Province on Wednesday evening left eight missing, local authorities on Friday.

Wu Guohong, deputy head of Puding County Government, who was in charge of work safety affairs, and Wu Wenlong, the county maritime department director, were suspended from work, according to a statement from the Communist Party of China Anshui Municipal Committee.

Yang Gang, head of Bulang Town, was dismissed.

The accident happened at about 9 p.m., when the fishing boat carrying eight people on their way back from a wedding ceremony in a neighboring village, capsized in the Yelang Lake, Puding County.

The victims, ranging from five to 64 years old, were all from Benjie Village, Bulang Town.

Rescue work is still going on.

The man-made Yelang Lake, which covers 21 square kilometers, is a famous scenic site in Guizhou.

Source: Xinhua