Yuan’s jump is sign China’s policy succeeds

    CHINA’S push to dispel concerns about the strength of its currency appears to be bearing fruit, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing the rise in yuan against the U.S. dollar over the past two weeks.

    The yuan has ratcheted up strong gains in the past two weeks, hitting its strongest level against the U.S. dollar in less than a month in the domestic market and surging to a high unseen since early December in the more freely traded offshore market Friday, the newspaper said.

    Small-cap firms lead share indices higher

    CHINA’S stocks rose sharply yesterday, led by small-cap firms, with investors encouraged by top securities regulator Liu Shiyu’s assurance it was premature to consider withdrawing government bailout funds and comments dispelling fears of a flood of initial public offerings.

    The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.57 percent to 3,065.69, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.75 percent to 2,859.50 points. Stocks rose across the board, with the startup board ChiNext leading the charge, up 4.56 percent.

    Dalian iron ore futures rise to 14-month high

    CHINA’S iron ore futures surged as much as 5 percent to hit a 14-month peak yesterday amid rising demand as steel mills in the world’s top consumer of the steelmaking raw material are picking up production.

    The bullish sentiment has driven spot iron ore for delivery to China 31 percent higher since the beginning of this year, making it the best performing commodity so far in 2016. The May contract, most active iron ore future on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, hit an intraday high of 454 yuan (US$69.92) a ton, its highest since Jan. 16, 2015. It cut gains to trade at 422.5 yuan a ton in the afternoon.

    Citic to sell property assets to China Overseas

    CHINESE conglomerate Citic Ltd. said yesterday it has agreed to sell its residential property assets in China to property developer China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. for about 31 billion yuan (US$4.78 billion), in a bid to focus on commercial property development amid a broader restructuring.

    Citic said it expects to book a net gain of about HK$9 billion (US$1.16 billion) to HK$11 billion from the disposal. As part of the deal, China Overseas will sell 1.1 billion shares to Citic firms.