China's economic woes
Aug 2009, 1801 hrs IST
BEIJING: China’s listed companies have seen profits shrinking by 18% in the first half of 2009. The news is likely to further push down prices at
the Shanghai stock exchange , which is already having an adverse effect on foreign markets.
Another piece of bad news that might affect market prices is the official announcement that China’s current-account surplus has fallen 32% in the first half of 2009 from a year earlier. This is the first decline in current account surplus in five years, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said.
The last two weeks saw Chinese stocks lose 20% of their value raising questions about the stability of the local market and its impact on world markets.
Although the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 1.7% on Friday due to heavy trading on shares of banks, there were serious questions on whether the market will finally get over the downward trend. The index finished 2,961 points on Friday marking a 2.8% decline for the week.
Nearly half of the 1,678 listed companies have so far met the statutory requirement of submitting their halfyearly results to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges . The 879 companies that submitted their books have reported profits of $17 billion reflecting 18% decline in profits as compared to the first half of 2008.
The fate of the remaining companies will be known after the August 31 deadline for submitted the accounts. Market experts feel a good number of companies delaying the submission of reports may be having problems balancing their books.
The worst performers included steelmakers and non-ferrous companies’ including Angang Steel Company , which reported a loss of 1.563 billion yuan ($229 milllion ). Jigang Group, Laigang Group and Yunan Copper posted losses of 100 million yuan ($15 million) each.
Companies engaged in finance , coal and white spirit sectors recorded better performances . The Bank of Communications topped the earnings list with its first-half profit up 22% year on year to 15.5 billion yuan ($2.2 billion).
Aug 2009, 1801 hrs IST
BEIJING: China’s listed companies have seen profits shrinking by 18% in the first half of 2009. The news is likely to further push down prices at
the Shanghai stock exchange , which is already having an adverse effect on foreign markets.
Another piece of bad news that might affect market prices is the official announcement that China’s current-account surplus has fallen 32% in the first half of 2009 from a year earlier. This is the first decline in current account surplus in five years, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said.
The last two weeks saw Chinese stocks lose 20% of their value raising questions about the stability of the local market and its impact on world markets.
Although the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 1.7% on Friday due to heavy trading on shares of banks, there were serious questions on whether the market will finally get over the downward trend. The index finished 2,961 points on Friday marking a 2.8% decline for the week.
Nearly half of the 1,678 listed companies have so far met the statutory requirement of submitting their halfyearly results to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges . The 879 companies that submitted their books have reported profits of $17 billion reflecting 18% decline in profits as compared to the first half of 2008.
The fate of the remaining companies will be known after the August 31 deadline for submitted the accounts. Market experts feel a good number of companies delaying the submission of reports may be having problems balancing their books.
The worst performers included steelmakers and non-ferrous companies’ including Angang Steel Company , which reported a loss of 1.563 billion yuan ($229 milllion ). Jigang Group, Laigang Group and Yunan Copper posted losses of 100 million yuan ($15 million) each.
Companies engaged in finance , coal and white spirit sectors recorded better performances . The Bank of Communications topped the earnings list with its first-half profit up 22% year on year to 15.5 billion yuan ($2.2 billion).
