Asian economic and corporate news summary

Asian economic and corporate news summary

	Published : Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:38 By : Agencies Print this Story

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - A summary of Asian economic and corporate news at 0500 GMT:

JAPAN:

-Jan industrial output falls 1.5 pct from Dec, beats forecast

-Jan retail sales down 0.8 pct year-on-year, falling for 3rd straight month

-Jan auto production up 4.2 pct year-on-year

-Tokyo bourse briefly halts Topix futures, options trading

-Fuji Heavy aims for 80 bln yen in operating profit in year to March 2011

SOUTH KOREA:

-Current account swings to deficit in Jan as trade surplus shrinks

-Samsungcard board clears plan to list this year

HONG KONG:

-GDP in 2006 up 6.8 pct

-Govt sees 2007 GDP growth at 4.5-5.5 pct, CPI up 1.5 pct

-Govt sees year to March 2007 budget surplus at 55.1 bln hkd

-Govt sees year to March 2008 expenditure at 248.4 bln hkd

-Govt sees year to March 2007 fiscal reserves at 365.8 bln hkd

-Govt to accelerate infrastructure projects to create more jobs

-Govt to widen personal income tax bands to 2002/03 levels

-Govt to waive property rates for April-Sept 2007, subject to a ceiling

-Govt fixes stamp duty at 100 hkd on property deals of 1-2 mln hkd

-Govt cuts duties on alcoholic beverages and wine by half

-MTR says Tseung Kwan O Area 56 land premium assessed at 3.35 bln hkd

CHINA:

-GDP in 2006 unchanged at 10.7 pct after revision

-Energy use per unit of GDP falls in 2006 1.23 pct

-World Bank approves 147 mln usd loan for waste water projects in east

-China Life Insurance Jan premium income 23 bln yuan

-Supor Cookware unaudited 2006 net profit 102.21 mln yuan vs 69.23 mln yuan

-Suning Appliance 2006 net profit more than doubles on new stores

-Ping An Insurance to list on Shanghai bourse tomorrow

-PetroChina sees Changqing field oil output at 12.01 mln tons in 2007

-China Railway Engineering Group wins 1.15 bln usd construction contract in Sudan

-Shanghai Petro Exchange to trade styrene, toluene and diethylene in early March

-Network CN completes 1.5 mln usd additional private placement

-China Finance Online turns to loss of 1.7 mln usd on investment write-off

-Match.com acquires online dating firm eDodo

SINGAPORE:

-Jan M3 273 bln sgd vs 225 bln sgd; M2 266 bln sgd vs 219 bln sgd

-Jan commercial bank lending 197 bln sgd vs 183 bln sgd

-Jan credit card bad debt write-offs 8.8 mln sgd vs 9.2 mln sgd

-Celestial Nutrifoods 2006 net profit 370 mln yuan vs 281 mln yuan

-Isetan Singapore 2006 net profit 14.35 mln sgd vs 9.68 mln sgd

-Hong Kong-listed eSun unit makes takeover bid for Media Asia