China Press Digest Sep 16: Liquidity, Slow Home Sales, Bar UK

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• The PBOC may intend to ensure sufficient liquidity to fully meet the demand of financial institutions, as it rolled out the matured medium-term lending facility yesterday with the same amount, higher than market expectation, the 21st Century Business Herald reported citing Zhang Xu, chief analyst of Everbright Securities. The probabilities of cutting RRRs or MLF rate may however be low, the newspaper cited Zhang as saying. PBOC's officil comment of "no big gap in the base money" last week has dispelled the market's expectation of a RRR or rate cut by the end of the year, the newspaper said. The MLF operation yesterday further dampened rate cut expectations, though it indicates the PBOC supports moderately loose liquidity in the medium and long term, which will help to further reduce the financial cost of the real economy, the newspaper said citing Wang Qing, chief analyst with Golden Credit Rating.
• Sales reported by China's property developers plunged in August as regional governments toughened restrictions to prevent property bubbles, the China Securities Journal said citing company disclosures. China Merchants Shekou said its volume sold last month dropped 26% y/y while revenues declined 24%, the newspaper said. China Vanke, one of the largest developers, reported a 48% reduction in August realized contract sales volume and a 37% decline in revenue, the journal said. The last week saw new home sales in the largest cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen declining by 30%, while sales in 80% of second-tier cities fell, said the journal. Many city authorities summoned developers to meetings and ordered them not to cut prices that could lead to market disorder, said the newspaper.
• China should take reciprocal actions against the British ambassador to China, and bar the British envoy from entering the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the future, the officially run Global Times said in an editorial, referring to the site of China's legislative assembly. The editorial came after the Chinese ambassador to Britain was barred by the British parliament. China should not hesitate to strike back against "anti-China shows" staged at parliaments of western countries, often by radical members, but it needs not to respond to get entangled with them, said the newspaper. MNI noted that while the official newspaper used harsh language to denounce the UK, it also reminded readers not to overreact and further worsen China's fraught relations with the West.