Champion Coach

(XINHUA)

World famous Italian football coach, 64-year-old Marcello Lippi, won his first championship title in China when his Guangzhou Evergrande team defeated Liaoning, winning the second consecutive Chinese Super League championship this season.

Lippi, nicknamed the "Silver Fox," is one of the most successful football coaches in the world. He won the championship title in the Serie A league in Italy for five consecutive seasons from 1995 to 2003. In 2006, Lippi won the World Cup championship as the head coach of the Italian football team.

On May 17, Lippi was officially appointed as head coach of Guangzhou Evergrande, beginning his new career in China. Lippi is the first world-class football coach to lead a Chinese football league and hopes are high that he can boost China's frail football scene.

Easing Liquidity

The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, conducted a massive repo injection through open market operations on October 30.

It injected a record high 395 billion yuan ($62.7 billion) into the financial system via reverse repos in order to ease a cash squeeze at the end of the month.

The central bank conducted seven-day reverse repos worth 290 billion yuan ($46.49 billion) and offered 105 billion yuan ($16.83 billion) in 14-day contracts. Bid interest rates remain stable at 3.35 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, said the bank.

Shi Lei, an analyst with Ping'an Securities, said the central bank's massive repo injection demonstrates its intention to stabilize market rates and bring them down to its target range.

The central bank conducted reverse repos when easing money supplies to prevent a rebound in housing and commodity prices.

"Open market operations will become the central bank's most important policy tool in managing liquidity," said Guo Tianyong, a banking researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Manufacturing Rejuvenates

China's manufacturing activity got a boost in October, official data showed on November 1.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI), a key gauge of manufacturing activity, rose to 50.2 percent in October from 49.8 percent in September, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. A level above 50 percent indicates expansion.

"I think the October PMI will help support our expectations for better economic perfor-mance in the fourth quarter than in the third," said Wang Jin, a macroeconomic analyst at Shanghai-based Guotai Junan Securities.

"Signs of stabilizing external demand, faster infrastructure investment and a thawing property market all bolstered a recovery in factory activity," he added.

Profits Decline

Net profits of Chinese listed companies dropped 2 percent year on year in the first three quarters, according to Wind Information Co. Ltd. (Wind Info), an integrated information service provider.

In the first nine months of the year, the country's 2,471 listed companies posted a total net profit of 1.49 trillion yuan ($238.8 billion).

The 2,455 non-bank listed companies registered a net profit of 681.44 billion yuan ($109.23 billion), down 18 percent year on year.

In sharp contrast, 16 listed banks posted a total net profit of 812.77 billion yuan ($130.29 billion), up 17 percent year on year and accounted for 55.4 percent of the total profits of the 2,471 listed companies.

The iron, steel, cement, coal and chemical industries suffered the most due to sluggish demand.

Credit Ratings

Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., China's leading rating agency, on October 30 maintained both the local and foreign currency sovereign credit ratings for Russia as A.

It also rated the local and foreign currency sovereign credit of Iceland as BB and BB-.

Despite recent fluctuations, the export price of oil will remain high and help Russia stabilize its economic growth and achieve fiscal balance. It will also guarantee its current solvency, Dagong said.

Given mounting global economic uncertainty, Russia's fiscal strength is not strong enough, and its ability to withstand the risks of fluctuations in global oil prices looks relatively weak, thus preventing the country from acquiring a better rating, Dagong said.

As for heavily indebted Iceland, Dagong said that although the economy is recovering, the country's debt repayment ability still faces challenges. There were enormous risks in the banking sector and high levels of liability in the private sector.

Shares Unlocked

Chinese shares will be unlocked for trade in the country's equity markets in November.

According to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, more than 190 billion yuan ($30.16 billion) worth of shares in 74 listed companies will be tradable on the markets in November.

This marks the second largest amount of shares released for trading in a month this year.

The expiration of lock-up periods of initial and additional offerings will free 185.29 billion yuan ($29.7 billion) of shares. The country's reform of non-tradable shares will contribute to 4.77 billion yuan ($764.6 million) worth of newly tradable shares, according to data from the brokerage firm Southwest Securities.

The market value of the newly tradable shares surged nearly 82 percent from October, according to Southwest Securities.

Of the 74 companies, the newly tradable shares in Jiangsu-based liquid maker Yanghe Inc. reached 45.08 billion yuan ($7.23 billion) in market value, according to its closing price on October 29.