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China's life insurance sees premiums up 17.8 pct in Q1

2007-05-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said on Thursday that -- under new accounting rules -- the country's life insurance premiums reached 145 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2007, up 17.8 percent year on year.
Reinsurance premiums, excluded under the previous accounting rules, have been added to the total under the new rules which came into force on Jan. 1.
Despite the excellent performance by life insurance, the CIRC warned insurers to look into risks from potential interest rate hikes.
The country's insurance companies reported premiums worth 196 billion yuan during the same period, an increase of 22.7 percent year on year, official statistics showed.
The total assets of the insurance sector climbed to 2.25 trillion yuan by the end of March, about 271 billion yuan more than that at the beginning of this year.

U.S. stocks open higher

2007-05-19T02:48:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK, May 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday after the previous session's rally.
In the opening trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up8.29, to13,479.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.13 to 1,514.01, and the Nasdaq composite index added 3.10 to 2,544.32.
U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, with Dow hitting a new record, after U.S. industrial production rose mildly.
U.S. industrial production rose by 0.7 percent in April after a drop of 0.3 percent in March, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Overall industrial production for April was 1.9 percent above the level in the same month of 2006.

Housing price in big cities keep soaring

2007-05-19T02:46:00.000-07:00

According to the statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Statistics Bureau of China, the average housing price in 70 big and medium-sized cities increased by 5.6% in the first quarter of 2007.Chinanews, Beijing, May 17 - According to the statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Statistics Bureau of China, the average housing price in 70 big and medium-sized cities increased by 5.6% in the first quarter of 2007. Shenzhen ranked No.1, with its housing price increasing by 12.6%, while Beijing ranked No.3 with a 9% growth.The price of newly built commercial houses in big and medium-sized cities has also kept rising, even in Shenzhen and Beijing, where strong regulations to suppress housing price hikes are being exercised. Secondhand houses have become more and more expensive, too. For example, the average price of secondhand houses in Dali, Yunnan Province has increased by 10%.Quite a large number of property agents believe that the rising land prices should be blamed for the housing price hike. Statistics also show that the average land price in the 70 cities has increased by 9.8% in the last 4 months."Housing price hike might make an overheating stock market in China, and that's what we must be aware of," said an expert.

Wu Yi urges U.S. to ease export curbs

2007-05-19T02:41:00.000-07:00

BEIJING, May 18 -- Vice-Premier Wu Yi yesterday called upon the United States to ease its restrictions on exports of some hi-tech products to China to help narrow the trade gap.
The remarks came in an opinion piece on the Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal, days before she leads a delegation to Washington for the second round of a strategic economic dialogue - the highest platform of communication between the two countries.
"The United States, as a global leader in science and technology, should give full play to its comparative advantage, enhance mutual trust and relax export controls to boost the competitiveness of American companies, reverse the trend of dwindling market share of American hi-tech products in China, and reduce its trade deficit with China," she urged.
The US administration has been adopting a strict export control policy on hi-tech exports to China for "security reasons", which has hindered China's imports from the country. Washington drafted a new rule in July, stipulating license requirements for additional items defined as "military end-use", and making the procedure of applying for licenses more complicated.
Wu noted trade protectionism is on the rise in the US. Some overstate the US trade imbalance with China and blame China for the problems that have arisen as the US adjusts its economic structure to respond to challenges posed by economic globalization. Some have even advocated trade protectionism.
She called such moves "irresponsible acts" that obstruct globalization and hinder the interests of both China and the US as well as the growth of the world economy.
"China and the United States need to, based on our respective national conditions, properly address issues arising in the course of our respective economic adjustments and resolve bilateral economic and trade issues through enhanced dialogue and consultation, and in a reasonable manner," she said. "Attempts to politicize trade issues should be resisted."
Wu said China-US business and trade relations are "cooperative in nature" and said she expected the two sides to address disputes and problems in "a coolheaded, objective and responsible way".
"Mutual benefit and win-win progress remain the defining features of our trade ties. This is the larger picture that no problem can overshadow," she added.
The issues of export control and easing of protectionism in the U.S. are expected to be the major topics of the strategic economic dialogue in Washington next week. The talks will also touch upon other issues, including services, investment, energy, environment and innovation.
The China-U.S. dialogue, which was jointly initiated by the two countries' presidents in September 2006, is an important channel for the two to discuss economic issues concerning the overall strategic and long-term interests, and address, as appropriate, contentious issues in bilateral economic relations.
Despite economic conflicts, China and the U.S. have witnessed strong growth in bilateral trade and investment, becoming each other's second-largest trade partner from an "almost nonexistent" trade volume 35 years ago.
(Source: China Daily)

China's Tencent posts 16% rise in net profit in Q1

2007-05-19T02:36:00.000-07:00

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Tencent, China's leading Internet community operator, said its net income jumped 16.2 percent year-on-year to 290 million yuan (37.5 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2007.Sales soared 19.8 percent from a year earlier to 773 million yuan, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement on its website.Internet value-added services rose 14.9 percent to 502 million yuan on the back of strong activity through the winter vacation and the Spring Festival, Tencent's chairman Pony Ma said.The company has 598 million instant messaging accounts, three percent higher than the fourth quarter of last year, according to the statement. While netizens often have several accounts, the statistic nevertheless represents almost one account for every two Chinese.Tencent's instant messaging tool QQ is a household word in China and rivals MSN Messenger in popularity among new net users.China had 144 million net users at the end of March, Xi Guohua, vice minister of Ministry of Information Industry, said on Thursday.The company, which went public in Hong Kong in 2004, said its advertising sales surged 77 percent year-on-year to 74 million yuan.Advertising sales in the first quarter of this year -- traditionally the weakest quarter in the advertising business -- were down 9.1 percent on the last quarter of 2006.

2007-05-19T00:38:00.000-07:00