Noticias de China

Uruguay closed 2008 with a 9.19-percent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the government said Monday. The increase in the inflation rate in Uruguay was the highest since 2004 and surpassed the official goal for 2008, said the National Institute of Statistics. The Uruguayan government had estimated an inflation rate of between 3 percent and 7 percent for 2008. The inflation rate in Uruguay was 8.50 percent in 2007. The retail price of food and drinks incr ...

General Motors (GM), the major U.S. automaker, on Monday reported a 31-percent decline in its December sales in its home country. According to a report on GM's website, its dealers in the United States delivered 221,983 vehicles in December, down 31 percent compared with a year ago. However, total deliveries were 67,000 vehicles more than November's result, up more than 43 percent month over month. GM December car sales of 87,506 were off 25 percent and truck sales of 13 ...

U.S. major auto makers all experienced a sales decline of at least 30 percent in the country in December, capping its worst year since 1992, reports from Detroit revealed on Monday. The auto companies' sales are reeling from tough economic times, spurred by the Wall Street meltdown, the subsequent tightening of the credit market and consumers moving from larger vehicles to more fuel-efficient, smaller ones. Compared with November, General Motors Corp. reported December sales drop ...

The dollar rose against the euro but fell against the pound on Monday amid the latest U.S. construction spending report and the tax cut plan of President-elect Barack Obama. Obama met with top lawmakers Monday to push for quick action on a broad economic stimulus package. The proposal includes tax cuts of up to 300 billion dollars for individuals and businesses. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier. Obama predicted that lawm ...

The Philippines' annual inflation eased to 8 percent in December 2008, lower than November's 9.9 percent, the country's statistics agency said on Tuesday. The figure was lower than the government's target range of 8.6 percent to 9.5 percent. "This was effected by the negative annual growth rate posted in the fuel, light and water index and the continued slowing down in the annual price increases of the heavily weighted food, beverage sand tobacco and the services index," the Nati ...

Some 17,500 rural households will be equipped with eco-friendly bio-digesters, which convert agricultural waste into cooking gas, English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post said on Tuesday. "We hope this bio-digester will benefit not only households, but the agricultural sector as a whole because it can help reduce the rate of deforestation, and the waste left over will be used for natural fertilizer," Agricultural Minister Chan Sarun was quoted as saying. The ministry ...

The central budget on the rural development and agriculture is expected to reach nearly 600 billion yuan in 2008, representing a year-on-year increase of 38 percent, said Finance Minister Xie Xuren at a national work conference, adding that more money and favorable policies would be adopted in 2009 to develop the rural areas and agriculture and improve the livelihood of farmers. Subsidies to farmers from the state exchequer more than doubled in 2008 to 102.77 billion yuan, according to Xie. ...

Chinese shares opened slightly lower on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, dropping 0.1 percent to 1,878.83 at the opening. The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.06 percent to open at 6,631.18 points. Analysts said investor confidence was weakened by a bleak corporate outlook. &$&$Source:Xinhua&$&$ ...

BMW is signing up green-minded drivers to test an all-electric Mini Cooper with two seats, just enough storage space for a gym bag, and a range of only 120 miles before recharging, all for triple the cost of the gasoline-powered model. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG will lease 250 of its new Mini Es in Southern California and 200 in metropolitan New York and New Jersey by March. Applicants, who will pay $850 a month for the zero-emissions car for one year, are outnumbering the models available b ...

President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus package will include hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax breaks for individuals and businesses, according to a transition official and Democratic aides. Obama is asking that tax cuts make up 40 percent of a stimulus package, the people say. The measure may be worth as much as $775 billion, a Democratic aide says, meaning tax cuts may constitute more than $300 billion of the legislation. &$

Foreign banks may divest China stakes

International investment banks may be preparing to sell their stakes in Chinese mainland banks after the government mandated lockup periods expire to shore up their depleted capital resources, said analysts. "Investment banks may be in immediate need of capital, forcing them to sell shares in Chinese mainland banks as soon as it is legally permitted. That would put mainland banks under short term selling pressure," said Dick Lee, corporate finance officer, Phillip Securities. Conita Hung, ...

EU says no immediate danger to gas supplies

There is no immediate danger to gas supplies to the European Union (EU) after a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine resulted in minor disruptions, the European Commission said on Monday. "At this point in time, consumers remain unaffected, and there is no immediate danger to gas supplies to European consumers," Commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny told a daily news conference in Brussels. "We do not see any real danger to normal gas supplies to the industry eithe ...

New York gold futures fall with strong dollar

Gold futures in New York fell sharply on Monday as the U.S. dollar rebounded. The dollar index gained as much as 1.6 percent while market participants expected President-elect Barack Obama's fiscal stimulus package would help the United States recover from the economic recession. Obama has gone to Washington waiting for his inauguration on Jan. 20. Gold futures for February delivery forged an aggressive early washout and then fought its way out from under the selling tide. While ...

U.S. stocks slip on corporate earnings

U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday as concerns about a decline in corporate profits overshadowed the prospect that President-elect Barack Obama's tax cut plan will help avert the economic downturn. Dow Jones ended below 9,000 points on the first real trading day of 2009 considered by traders. Wireless telecom and financials are Monday's losers. AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. registered losses as Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said the recession will hurt growth in wireless ...

Crude oil up 5% on Gaza tension, OPEC meeting

Crude oil added more than 5 percent on Monday as the military tension in the Middle East and a possible OPEC emergency meeting next month weighed on the market. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 2.47 U.S. dollars to settle at 48.81 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Price rose to as high as 49.28 dollars a barrel during the trading. Investors are still concerned that the ongoing tension between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would disrupt oil supplie ...

CME Group volume slides in fourth quarter

CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange, announced on Monday that its fourth-quarter daily volume averaged 10.4 million contracts, down 14 percent compared with the same period last year. Daily volume averaged 8.2 million contracts in December, down 22 percent compared with December 2007. Volume for the year 2008 totaled 3.3 billion contracts, representing the eighth consecutive year of record volume, assuming combined CME Group/NYMEX volumes, and 1.2 quadri ...

U.S. construction declines 0.6% in November

U.S. construction spending dropped by 0.6 percent in November, the Commerce Department reported Monday. The November drop was less than half of the 1.3 percent decline economists expected. Construction spending in October had been revised to a 0.4 percent decline from the originally reported drop of 1.2 percent. In November, private builders cut their spending on residential construction by 4.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 328 billion dollars, the lowest since ...

Subaru recalls 1,135 SUVs in China for control system flaws

Japanese auto maker Subaru will recall 1,135 Tribeca sport utility vehicles (SUVs) it sold in China over control system flaws, said China's quality supervisor here Monday. A sensor defect in the dynamic control system may cause the vehicle to run unsteadily and even break away from its driver's control, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ). It remained unclear whether the problem had resulted in any crashes or injuries in Chin ...

China says global financial crisis not to dampen tourism in upcoming festival

Fewer inbound tourists due to the world economic slowdown will not dent China's traditional tourist peak during the upcoming Spring Festival, an official said here Monday. Inbound tourism has shrunk by more than 30 percent as a result of the global financial crisis, said Wang Zhifa, deputy director of the China National Tourism Administration. That won't affect the whole tourist market during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, which will last a week from Jan.25, as inbound touri ...

China cracks down on shoddy fertilizers, seeds

China found 200 million yuan (29.4 million U.S. dollars) worth of substandard farming materials such as fertilizers and seeds last year, the country's quality watchdog said Monday. In 15,714 cases, officials helped farmers recover a total direct loss of 94.9 million yuan, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ). More than 210,000 quality supervisors checked 2,2631 companies in the campaign aimed to boost grain production and farm ...

China warns exporters against rising overseas credit risks

Chinese exporters face an increased risk of not being paid for their goods as foreign banks run out of cash and some overseas importers evade paying debts, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) warned Monday. "The cases of malicious debt evasion and breach of contracts by importers in certain countries or regions are on the rise," said the ministry in a notice. It attributed the phenomenon to the impact of the deepening global financial crisis. The MOC urged local governments, guild ...

Nonferrous metals lead China futures market on first trading day in 2009

Rebounding global oil prices drove China's commodities to rise on Monday, with copper, zinc and aluminium leading the futures market. All of the 19 futures categories on China's three commodity exchanges in Shanghai, Dalian and Zhengzhou opened substantially high in the morning of the first trading day of 2009. Five categories, namely copper, zinc, natural rubber, fuel oil and LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene), closed up by their daily limits. Copper and zinc price ...

China IPOs to rise 45% in 2009: accountancy firm

Initial public offerings (IPOs) in China are expected to rise 45 percent in value this year as a result of government stimulus policies, accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) said Monday. Companies will raise about 150 billion yuan (22 billion U.S. dollars) through IPOs in China in 2009, the PwC said in a report. Sectors such as infrastructure, finance, consumer goods manufacturing and retailing will benefit from a 4 trillion-yuan economic stimulus package announced in N ...

Macao registers record gaming revenues of $13.7 bln in 2008

Macao saw its gaming revenues for the whole of 2008 surged 31 percent year-on-year to record high of 108billion patacas (13.7 billion U.S. dollars), local television station TDM reported on Monday. According to the statistics from the Special Administrative Region's (SAR) Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, gaming revenues of the SAR, the only place in China where gambling is legal, stood at 83.8 billion patacas (10.6 billion dollars) in 2007, growing by 45.7 percent over the prev ...

OPEC weekly prices rebound slightly under Palestinian-Israeli conflict

The weekly average prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rebounded slightly to 36.29 U.S. dollars per barrel last week from 34.92 dollars in the previous week due to the currently aggravated Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Vienna-based oil cartel said on Monday. Israel's military operation against Palestinians since Dec. 27,2008 has aggravated the geopolitical tension in the Middle East, which has contributed to the rebound in international oil prices. ...

Singapore shares jump above 1,900 points

The shares prices in Singapore rose 95.16 points or 5.2 percent on Monday with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) closed at 1,924.87 points. Trade volumes and market value both increased dramatically on Monday. The overall volume stood at 1848.4 million shares, almost double the volumes of 955.5 million shares on Friday. Total market value is worth 1570.6 million Singapore dollars (about 1069 million U.S. dollars), a hike from Friday's 686.1 million Singapore dollars (about 473 mill ...

Indonesia's export falls in November

Indonesia's overseas sales weakened by 2.36 percent to 9.01 billion U.S. dollar in the month compared to the same period last year, deputy for Statistic distribution and services of the agency Ali Rosidi announced. The global financial routs have hit the sectors of textiles, coal, steel and palm oil rubbers and other commodities in Indonesia since October. Indonesia is the world's biggest palm oil producer and the world's second biggest rubber maker. The weakening of glob ...

Dollar firm at 92 yen line in Tokyo

The U.S. dollar stood firm at the 92 yen line Monday in Tokyo. The dollar traded at 92.01-03 yen at 5 p.m., up from 91.70-80 yen in New York at 5 p.m. Friday. The euro was quoted at 1.3927-3929 dollars and 128.15-19 yen, against 1.3915-3925 dollars and 127.79-89 yen in New York. Monday is the first trading day of 2009 in Japan as financial markets were closed for the New Year's holidays. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ...

Hong Kong's December housing sales recover from gloom

Hong Kong's housing market is recovering in December from the November gloom but was still far behind the boom in 2007, revealed the Land Registry's latest statistics here Monday. The Land Registry recorded 5,437 registration of flat sale and purchase agreements in December, up 43.6 percent from November but still down 65.1 percent from the same period in 2007. Using a 12-month moving average, the figure for December, however, represented an 8.2 percent drop on November and a 22. ...