Stock market value rises as sentiment improves

    THE market capitalization of firms listed on the two bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose last week from a week ago as investors’ sentiment has improved recently, Xinhua reported Saturday.

    The total market value of listed firms rose to 37 trillion yuan (US$5.7 trillion) by Friday’s market close, up 3.27 percent from the previous week, Xinhua said. Easing from three-month highs hit Thursday, both the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.1 percent to 3,272.21 points and 3,078.12 points, respectively Friday. But for the week, CSI300 rose 2.7 percent and the Shanghai Composite was up 3.1 percent.

    HNA buys currency exchange firm ICE

    CHINESE conglomerate HNA Group has agreed to buy British bureau-de-change operator International Currency Exchange (ICE), the companies said Friday.

    The acquisitive Global Fortune 500 company, which secured an all-cash US$1.5 billion purchase of Swiss airline caterer Gategroup Holdings earlier last week, has not disclosed terms of the transaction. Founded in 1973 and headquartered in London, ICE is one of the world’s largest currency exchange retailers, with a network of over 350 branches and bureaux in 70 airports and multiple other locations in 19 countries.

    PetroChina’s Canadian unit to start operations

    THE Canadian unit of one of China’s largest oil and gas companies is on track to start operations at a new 35,000-barrel-per-day oil-sands plant later this year despite crude prices being below break-even levels for the project, a senior executive said.

    PetroChina Co.’s Brion Energy unit plans to begin steaming operations at its MacKay River oil-sands site in northern Alberta later this year and produce first oil in early in 2017, said Bob Shepherd, Brion’s executive vice president.

    Steel, iron ore futures pull back further

    IRON ore and steel futures in China pulled back further Friday from an early-week rally that lifted prices to multi-month highs amid signs of a pickup in demand in the world’s top consumer.

    The September iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed down 3.3 percent at 408.50 yuan (US$63) a ton. It touched a 17-month high of 432 yuan Thursday. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, steel rebar for October delivery slipped 2.1 percent to 2,300 yuan a ton. It hit an 11-month peak of 2,435 yuan Wednesday.