China Enterprises Index up 1.93%

HONG KONG, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Hang Seng China Enterprises Index on Hong
Kong Stock Exchange went up Monday with 184.95 points, or 1.93 percent, to close
the day's trading at 9,607.29.

The H-shares index, initiated in August 1994 and readjusted on Jan. 5,
2009, tracks the overall performance of 43 major Chinese mainland state-owned
enterprises listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Hang Seng China H-Financials Index moved up 264.55 points, or 2.12 percent,
to close at 12,745.89.

The H-Financials Index, initiated on Nov. 27, 2006, readjusted on Sept. 10,
2007, tracks the performance of nine major banks and insurers of the Chinese
mainland.

Hang Seng Mainland Composite Index went up 51.23 points, or 1.63 percent,
to close at 3,194.10.

Introduced on Oct. 3, 2001 with the latest readjustment effective on March
9, 2009, Hang Seng Mainland Composite Index gauges the performance of 132 Hong
Kong-listed companies with principal places of business in Hong Kong and the
Chinese mainland.

Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corporations Index moved up 20.01 points, or
0.56 percent, to close at 3,567.48.

The index tracks the performance of 34 locally listed companies with a
significant equity interest held by entities in the Chinese mainland.

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Hong Kong stocks close 1.38% up

HONG KONG, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks moved
up 232.21 points, or 1.38 percent to close at 17,022.91 on Monday.

Turnover climbed to 66.38 billion HK dollars (8.57
billion U.S. dollars), from Friday's 58.06 billion HK dollars (7.50 billion U.S.
dollars).

The index traded between 16,334.36
and 17,062.49.

The gain seen in the afternoon session was attributed
to strength in property companies and Mainland's stock market, according to
analysts who expected the blue-chip index to consolidate in the near term after
the market's recent strong rally, though some said ample liquidity should lend
the market support.

Property firms led Monday's gains on a positive
outlook for the sector. New World Development advanced 6.9 percent to 12.76 HK
dollars, Sino Land jumped 4.1 percent to 11.30 HK dollars, and Henderson Land
was up 3.5 percent at 38.50 HK dollars.

JPMorgan Monday raised the Hang Seng Index 2009
year-end target to 19,800 from 16,600, and recommended investors to buy more
property stocks.

However, Credit Suisse downgraded Hong Kong's
property sector on Monday to Underweight from Market Weight, because a recent
strong run up in property stocks has not been matched by fundamental
improvements.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks
both A and B shares, ended up 0.3 percent at 2,652.78, rebounding from an early
fall to 2,589.61, led by gains in coal and power companies, which supported the
Hong Kong market.

Hong Kong's H-share index, which tracks the Hong
Kong-listed shares of Mainland-registered firms, rose 1.9 percent to 9,792.24.

Hong Kong bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and
Clearing rose 5.8 percent to 109.70 HK dollars on strong turnover.

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Chinese shares edge up after rebound by coal producers

BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares reversed an early decline to closely slightly higher Monday, with a strong performance by coal stocks.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.28 percent, or 7.52 points, to 2,652.78. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.4 percent, or 40.82 points, to 10,314.04.

Combined turnover increased to 180.19 billion yuan (26.50 billion U.S. dollars) from Friday's 169.5 billion yuan.

Shares in Shanghai tumbled below the 2,600 mark in the morning, as financial and real estate stocks led the decline.

A strong rebound in coal stocks reversed the trend as investors took the view that rising oil prices might push up demand for coal, analysts said.

China Shenhua, the nation's biggest coal producer, rose 3.16 percent to 28.05 yuan. Datong Coal Industry gained 9.84 percent to 37.73 yuan.

China Yangtze Power rose 4.11 percent to 14.94 yuan after it announced a 107.5-billion-yuan-purchase of generation units at the Three Gorges Dam, its parent company and the world's largest hydropower project.

The State Council, or cabinet, announced a support plan Monday for the petrochemical industry. The cabinet urged oil producers and refiners to improve their product mix. It also vowed to improve the pricing mechanism for oil products and establish an oil product consumption tax that would be favorable for petrochemical companies.

It also pledged to build 20 oil refining bases, each with a capacity of 10 million tonnes.

However, the news came out after the market closed, too late to have an impact on Monday's trading.

PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, fell 1.52 percent to 12.97 yuan. Sinopec, Asia's biggest refiner, fell 1.23 percent to 10.46 yuan.

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Chinese shares open slightly lower

BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares opened slightly lower on Monday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.48 percent to 2,632.57.
The Shenzhen Component Index was down 0.61 percent to 10,211.02 at the opening.

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'It's high time to develop futures trading in China', industry guild

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China has laid a solid ground to step up the
development of the country's futures trading market, according to China Futures
Association (CFA) here on Saturday.

The country has narrowed the gap with international futures market as its
futures trading was less exposed to the impact of the global financial crisis,
the CFA vice director Li Qiang said at a forum on the development of futures
market.

China ranked second on international market in terms of commodity futures
trading. "The futures prices of products such as copper, corn, soybean and wheat
have seen a growing influence on the global price changes," Li said.

It was necessary for China to enhance futures trading development and use
the market as a tool for risk management at a time of global economic downturn,
according to Li, as futures prices often served as a barometer to indicate
international commodity price changes.

At present, the country has 20 products on futures trading. Two products
have been open for market trading since the year's beginning, including steel
and early rice, with the launch of swine futures in
expectation.