Numbers of the Week

1.1 trillion yuan

China's tourism sector collected 1.1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) in 2007, up 22.6 percent year on year, according to the National Tourism Administration on September 16.

29.33 million tons

China's coal reserves at 353 major power plants have hit a record 29.33 million tons, 5 million tons more than average storage, according to the Ministry of Railways.

TO THE POINT: The Chinese Government adopted a package of measures to rescue the tumbling mainland stock markets. It will let listed companies repurchase their shares in the open markets and require the government's investment arm to increase its holdings in major listed domestic banks. But most notably, the government ditched the stock trading stamp tax charged to those who buy shares. Mainland steel prices are expected to drop in the fourth quarter when industry leader Baosteel cuts its prices in October and November. Chinese companies such as Sinosteel and China Oilfield Services are increasing their acquisitions of, and stakes, in foreign companies.  By LIU YUNYUN

Stock Market Rally Fades

The Chinese authorities eliminated the stock trading stamp tax that shareowners must pay when they purchase stock, in a move aimed at salvaging the falling mainland stock market.

Although investors were ecstatic when mainland stock markets surged earlier this year, their buoyant mood has withered because of concerns about corporate profitability and the global economic slowdown.

On September 19, the State Council authorized the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation to jointly cancel the stock trading stamp tax on share purchases, while the 0.1-percent stamp tax on share sales paid by sellers remained unchanged. It is the first time that the government has levied a unilateral stamp tax on stocks traders.

The government cut the tax on share purchases on April 24 to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent in an effort to boost trading in the gloomy mainland markets. But a week after the tax cut, the markets continued to fall, and the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) has lost nearly 50 percent since the end of April.

The new unilateral stamp tax policy swept away the month-long trading haze and prompted the biggest single trading day surge on the mainland A-share market in history. The SCI soared 9.45 percent to 2,075 points, with most of stock prices increasing 10 percent, the daily upper limit, on September 22.

Investors started trading shares of domestic financial institutions again after they were sufficiently convinced that U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Inc.'s bankruptcy would not pose major threats to the Chinese banking system.

Nevertheless, the stock market immediately plummeted amid reluctant trading sentiment as it did after the government cut the stamp tax on shares sales earlier this year.

Experts believe the government's current move to eliminate the stamp tax could spur only temporary enthusiasm among investors, but will not reverse the market trend, because the pessimistic external economic environment will remain the root cause of the market's plunge.

"The external financial markets are tumbling and risks still exist," Xu Yan, an analyst with Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co. Ltd., said in an interview with the 21st Century Business Herald. "The economic downturn will continue for the rest of this year."

Huijin Comes to the Rescue

The declining mainland stock markets prompted the Central Huijin Investment Co. Ltd., an investment arm of the government, to increase its shareholdings in the country's three largest commercial banks.