News

Taiwan stocks close 2.07 pct higher

Taiwan's share prices rose 144. 38 points, or 2.07 percent to close at 7,110.73 on Friday, according to news reaching here from Taipei. The benchmark weighted index traded between 7,035.10 and 7,122. 28 on a turnover of 92.84 billion new Taiwan dollars (about 3.07 billion U.S. dollars).

China stock index futures close mixed -- Dec. 23

China's stock index futures closed mixed Friday with the contract for January 2012, the most actively traded, down 0.03 percent from the previous trading day to 2,360.2 points. The February 2012 contract lost 0.06 percent to 2,369.4 points. The March 2012 contract dropped 0.08 percent to 2,385.2 points, while the June 2012 was up 0.43 percent...

Chinese entrepreneurs call U.S. "notorious markets list" unfair

Chinese entrepreneurs said a recent U.S. report identifying some of China's marketplaces as "notorious markets" for dealing in pirated and counterfeit goods and services is unfair. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in its report on Tuesday that four of the 15 listed physical markets known for pirated goods and services...

Bank profit growth to slow next year: report

Profit growth of Chinese listed banks is likely to slow down to around 20 percent next year, according to a report released by the Bank of Communications (BOCOM), the country's fifth biggest commercial bank by asset scale. The deceleration was mainly caused by a decline of growth in interest-earning assets, due to stable credit growth, a...

China's Xinjiang exempts tax to attract investment to border cities

Taxation authorities in China's far western Xinjiang unveiled a new rule Saturday exempting enterprise income tax to attract investment to the border cities of Kashgar and Horgos. The new businesses are exempt from the enterprise income tax for five years, the regional taxation bureau said a statement, citing a notice from the Ministry of...

Car dealers forced to find new strategies

Despite the benefits Beijing's license plate quotas may have had on the city's troubled traffic situation, it stunted local car sales and forced automobile dealers to change their business strategies. According to Su Hui, an official with the China Automobile Dealers Association, whole year sales of new vehicles are expected to plummet from...

Country to spend less on railways next year

The railway ministry cut its construction spending for next year but will not stop investing in the rail sector, said a top railway official. The Ministry of Railways plans to invest 500 billion yuan ($79 billion) on fixed assets next year, including 400 billion yuan for railway construction, Minister of Railways Sheng Guangzu told the annual...

Subsidized housing supported

Vice Premier Li Keqiang described next year's task of building affordable housing as "arduous" and called for stronger support for the projects. The number of low-income housing units the government aims to start building next year will be lower than that of this year, but the scale of construction will remain large because of the...

Sinopec unit completes takeover of Canada's Daylight Energy

A subsidiary of China's energy giant Sinopec said Friday it has completed the final step to buy Canadian oil and gas explorer Daylight Energy Ltd.. The takeover will give Sinopec access to Daylight Energy's 69 oil and natural gas assets in Canada's northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. According to the deal that was signed...