Chinese banks lend 200 bln yuan for disaster relief, after-quake rebuilding

BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said here Saturday the country's banking industry has issued loans worth of 205.36 billion yuan (30.2 billion U.S. dollars) to Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces by March end for earthquake relief and reconstruction.

A total of 168.99 billion yuan went to Sichuan Province. Shaanxi and Gansu received 16.07 billion yuan and 20.31 billion yuan, respectively, said the commission.

The three provinces, all hit by the May 12 earthquake last year, received 12.83 billion yuan in loans for rebuilding houses for 645,000 rural families by the end of April.

The CBRC said it would further encourage credit loans and actively introduce various sources of capital into the quake-hit area.

China's top planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, said Friday that jobs had been done on the investment of 360 billion yuan (about 52.7 billion U.S. dollars) into post-quake reconstruction by end of April, one-third of the planned total.

The commission said the government now aims to finish most of the reconstruction work in two years, instead of the originally planned three years.

Special Report: 1st Anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake

Hong Kong stocks end 2.76% up

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HONG KONG, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks rose 401.84 points, or
2.76 percent to close at 14,956.95 on Wednesday.

Market turnover went downward to 50.70 billion HK dollars (about 6.54
billion U.S. dollars) from Tuesday's 56.24 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Investor concerns over swine flu took a back seat after the index fell 4.6
percent in the previous two sessions, as people now believe it is still too
early to assess the risks of a pandemic, traders said.

Consumer trading firm Li and Fung surged 7.2 percent to 21.05 HK dollars
(about 2.72 U.S. dollars) after better-than-expected U.S. consumer confidence
data overnight.

Cathay Pacific rebounded after falling on concerns over the swine flu
outbreak, leading Hong Kong shares higher Wednesday. It rose 5.6 percent to 8.81
HK dollars after a two-day 8.8 percent drop due to swine flu fears.

Citigroup wrote that it is too early to conclude the strong recovery in
China air travel will be disrupted by swine flu, given swift measures by global
agencies.

Sinopec rose 3.6 percent to 5.80 HK dollars after posting an 85 percent
rise in first-quarter net profit.

It was also helped by news it expects its net profit for the first-half of
2009 to rise more than 50 percent from a year earlier due to lower oil costs.

Property companies outperformed the broader market, with the property
sub-index rising 4.1 percent. Wharf jumped 7.1 percent to 24.30 HK dollars and
Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 3.7 percent to 76.95 HK dollars.

Hong Kong stocks end higher as property sector gains

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

HONG KONG, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks closed slightly higher Fridays as property sector led the moderate gains, but a fall in China-related stocks, or H shares, limited the rise to resume 16,000 level.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 18.28 points, or 0.12 percent, to 15,601.27 after hitting an intraday high of 15,956.46. The index gained 7.1 percent, or 1,055 points, this week. Turnover rose to 75.30 billion HK dollars (about 9.73 billion US dollars) from Thursday's 74.63 billion HK dollars (about 9.64 billion US dollars).

Cheung Kong rose 0.9 percent to 76.76 HK dollars, but was off its intraday high of 79.60 HK dollars. It said it sold more than 90 percent of 1,068 units in a residential project in the New Territories since its launch Thursday.

Goldman Sachs also upgraded its view on the Hong Kong property sector to neutral from cautious, following the report, Sino Land jumped 9.8 percent to 10.24 HK dollars and Hang Lung Properties rose 1.7 percent to 21.30 percent.

Among the H shares, Chalco shed 4.5 percent to 6.22 HK dollars. PetroChina dropped 1.5 percent to 6.73 HK dollars and China Construction Bank was off 0.8 percent at 4.70 HK dollars.

Cathay Pacific fell 3.4 percent to 9.25 HK dollars. The Hong Kong-based airline said Friday its first-quarter revenue from passenger and cargo services fell 22.4 percent from a year ago, and it was to ask some staff to take unpaid leave.

The airline reported a net loss of 8.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) for 2008, a dramatic turnaround from the previous year's profit of 7 billion HK dollars. The company will also reduce passenger and cargo capacity.

HKEx rose 0.5 percent to 89.35, but off intraday high of 91.95 HK dollars.

Mengniu rose 4.83 percent to 13.02 HK dollars on rebound after Thursday's 5.6 percent decline on worse-than-expected 2008 results. After hit by melamine scandal last year, Mengniu's sales of liquid milk recovered rapidly, as first quarter sales volume had recovered to 80 percent of pre-melamine crisis level.