Shares close up for second week

    CHINA’S stocks closed up Friday, overcoming a mid-week slide to end up for a second week, with market insiders saying the “national team” of brokerages, mutual funds and market regulators were intensifying intervention, especially in the futures market.

    The main indices slid sharply Tuesday and Wednesday, spurring worry that bearish sentiment in the futures market could widen. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 3.9 percent Friday to 4,151.50, up 1.1 for the week, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 3.5 percent to 3,957.35 points, up 2.1 for the week.

    Irish funds to trade on HK-Shanghai stock connect

    IRELAND’S central bank, one of Europe’s major funds regulators, has given permission for retail funds in the country to trade on a new Hong Kong-Shanghai equity link, removing an obstacle that has deterred European investors since its launch in November.

    The Central Bank of Ireland will allow Dublin-domiciled funds to purchase Chinese-listed stocks via the program, provided they satisfy a number of requirements with respect to the safe-keeping of investor assets. The Hong Kong-Shanghai stock connect program was hailed as a landmark development, allowing foreign investors to trade Shanghai shares for the first time via Hong Kong.

    US$118b municipal bonds issued in debt swap

    CHINA’S local governments issued 734.2 billion yuan (US$118 billion) in bonds in June, the central bank said Friday, an explosive speed that highlights the need for the government to move faster to expand its existing debt swap program.

    Municipal bonds accounted for about 35 percent of the 2.1 trillion yuan in bonds issued last month, the People’s Bank of China said in a report released on its website. The debt swap program, designed to ease refinancing for local governments and rev up China’s economic growth, allows cities and provinces to replace high-interest loans with lower-cost municipal bonds that also have longer terms of maturity.

    Banks may get stock brokerage licenses

    CHINA may grant its commercial banks stock brokerage licenses in a test run of reforms to allow lenders to conduct mixed business, Xinhua quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying Friday.

    The government may allow several banks to hold brokerage licenses directly in an experimental manner at proper time, said the source.