SPEEDY CONSTRUCTION: Workers at a construction site for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in north China's Hebei Province on November 6. The section, from Handan to Shijiazhuang, is expected to be completed by the end of this year (MOU YU)

PMI Strengthens

China's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 51.4 percent in October, hitting a new high since May 2012, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on November 1.

China's manufacturing PMI has risen for four consecutive months, showing a steady upward trend in manufacturing. A figure above 50 percent signals expansion.

Zhao Qinghe, a senior NBS statistician, attributed the strong PMI to expanding production after corporate confidence was boosted by the government's measures this year to stabilize growth and restructure the economy.

The PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector rose to 56.3 percent in October, the highest in the last 12 months, similarly confirming the trend.

Cai Jin, CFLP Vice Chairman, said the construction and service sectors are becoming increasingly active, with the non-manufacturing sector absorbing more jobs.

Online Funds Shops

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group opened the sales of funds on its popular online shopping platform Taobao on November 1 after receiving a no-action letter from the China Securities Regulatory Commission on October 31 for its funds business.

This makes it China's first Internet company to provide services for funds sales institutions. Alipay, also run by Alibaba, will provide third-party payment services for online funds sales.

On November 1, the first batch of 17 funds institutions, including Guotai AMC, E Fund and Aegon-Industrial Fund, opened their online funds shops on Taobao.

Persons aged 18 or above can buy funds after passing real-name authentication through the Alipay online payment service.

The retailers will provide a one-stop service for buyers to open accounts, place and pay for orders, as well as manage their fund accounts, "similar to online clothes shopping," said the Alibaba Group.

Online funds sales is the second major step for Alibaba after establishing a new business offering its customers higher investment yields than interest from banks. In mid-June, Alipay began to offer users the option to directly invest with the private Tianhong Fund. To date, the fund has accumulated an asset size of 55.6 billion yuan ($9.12 billion), the largest single fund in China.

Anti-Dumping Plan

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on November 6 that it is to implement provisional anti-dumping regulations on cellulose pulp imported from the United States, Canada and Brazil.

The preliminary ruling requires importers of the product to place deposits with Chinese customs starting from November 7. The deposits will range from 0.7 percent to 50.9 percent of imports, depending on the dumping margin, said the MOFCOM statement.

MOFCOM announced that companies from the above-mentioned countries had dumped cellulose pulp on the Chinese market and such imports had caused substantial damage to the domestic industry.

The ministry launched its anti-dumping probe into imported cellulose pulp back in February.

Cellulose pulp, made from plant fiber, is used as a raw material in the production of viscose and acetate fiber.