China News & Hong Kong – Latest land auction comes in below expectations

·         China - Maintaining a moderately lose monetary policy through year end, Zhang Tao, head of the central bank’s survey and statistics department, wrote in the Economic Daily newspaper. China’s gov’t has been looking to increase domestic consumption to offset a decline in exports. Bloomberg

·         China – Positive comments from the PBOC. In a statement, the Central Bank said that the country’s fundamentals remain “good,” that China’s decreasing dependence on exports means the European debt crisis is unlikely to have a large impact and the bank is cautiously optimistic about the Chinese economy. Bloomberg

·         Chinese corporate profits - Profits at Chinese industrial enterprises in 24 regions climbed 71.8 percent year on year to 1.61 trillion yuan (237.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday – Reuters 

·         China - said Wednesday it will spend about $120 billion to nearly double the country's high-speed rail network by 2012 – DJ

·         Chinese cement stocks rally - China aims to eliminate inefficient cement capacity and close polluting factories, according to the Economic Information Daily.  Bloomberg 

·         Chinalco – the co’s shares were suspended from trading pending discussion of a "significant issue"; some speculation of a tie-up w/Rio Tinto.  WSJ/Reuters   

·         China yuan – the IMF on Wed released a long awaited review of China’s economic policies; doesn’t say the yuan is “substantially” undervalued; the IMF revealed an internal divide about whether the yuan is undervalued - "Several Directors agreed that the exchange rate is undervalued," the IMF's 24-person executive board said in a summary of the report released Wednesday. "However, a number of others disagreed with the staff's assessment of the level of the exchange rate, noting that it is based on uncertain forecasts of the current account surplus."  The IMF says China’s growth outlook remains favorable and said the country should phase out its stimulus initiatives.  

·         Hong Kong – Latest land auction comes in below expectations. HK gov’t sold a building site this morning for HK$10.4B vs. St. HK$10.5B (range HK$8.9-11.5B). Bloomberg