A number of large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are qualified to fully list on the stock markets by floating both A shares and H shares, Ji Xiaonan, a senior official of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, noted in an article in China Securities News.

By the end of 2006, the total assets of Central Government-owned enterprises amounted to 12.2 trillion yuan. Domestically-listed central enterprises had combined assets of 2.6 trillion yuan. Full listing of such a large number of high-quality assets will significantly raise the Chinese domestic stock market value.

Ji advised SOEs to inject their assets into as many listed units as possible and spin off the non-related assets first before full listing. Enterprises planning full listing step by step should be cautious about initially listing only part of their assets, and avoid partially listing their main business, he said.

Retail Soars Despite Inflation

China's retail sales rose 15.9 percent year-on-year to 6.38 trillion in the first nine months despite a rise of the consumer price index by 4.1 percent over the same period, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The growth rate of retail sales, a major gauge of consumer spending and an indicator of market movement, was 2.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the same period last year.

Analysts attributed the rise of retail sales to an increase in residents' disposable income as the income of both rural and urban residents rose more than 13 percent in the first nine months.

Price Guarantee for Farmers

The Agricultural Development Bank of China offered loans totaling 44.3 billion yuan to six provinces by the end of September to ensure the minimum purchasing price for wheat, according to bank sources.

These loans, used to purchase 29.2 million tons of wheat at the minimum price, are expected to provide local farmers with an additional 2.3 billion yuan profit, said the bank.

The prices will safeguard 25-30 percent profit margins for farmers, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner.

Robust Growth Despite Export Reduction

China's GDP was up 11.5 percent in the first nine months from the corresponding period last year, said the National Bureau of Statistics.

The figure, far above the official growth target of 8 percent for the whole year, indicates China is on track to post double-digit growth for the fifth year in a row in 2007.

GDP rose by 11.5 percent in the third quarter, decreasing from 11.9 percent in the second quarter but higher than 11.1 percent in the first quarter.

Economists pointed out that the GDP slow-down in the third quarter is partly attributable to export reduction caused by new export policies. The Chinese Government adjusted its export rebate policy from July, reducing or canceling export rebates for products ranging from clothes to toys.

Pipeline to Quell Fuel Thirst

Workers completed a tunnel under China's Yangtze River for a major gas pipeline that will run from southwestern Sichuan Province to Shanghai in east China.

The 2,203-km pipeline is expected to channel 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from a gas field in Sichuan to central and eastern regions.

With a diameter of 3.08 meters and a length of 1,405 meters, the tunnel is about 20 meters beneath the riverbed, connecting two gas wells on each bank of the Yangtze in the section of Hubei Province, said Liu Juzheng, head of the Hubei section of the Sichuan-Shanghai pipeline.

The tunnel, which took 325 days to finish, is the first of five to cross under the Yangtze.