China Press Digest: Tuesday, September 26

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following are highlights from the China press for

Tuesday, September 26:

     The People's Bank of China has told Chinese commercial banks to strictly

implement United Nations sanctions against North Korea, the South China Morning

Post reported, citing four unidentified sources. The central bank told Chinese

banks to stop offering financial services to North Koreans and gradually end

loan services for existing North Korean clients, the newspaper said. Wang

Jingdong, a vice-president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,

China's largest commercial bank by assets, said Monday ICBC would "strictly

implement the UN Security Council decisions related to North Korea and carefully

fulfil relevant international responsibilities," according to the report. (South

China Morning Post)

     After eight Chinese Tier-2 cities, including seven provincial capitals,

issued new policies at the weekend to curb property speculation, share prices

for property development firms fell sharply on both the domestic A share and HK

stock markets, Caixin reported. Shares of property companies located in Tier-2

and Tier-3 cities suffered the biggest losses, with more than 20 mainland

property developers seeing their share prices dipped by more than 10%. (Caixin)

     China is still encouraging blockchain technology though it recently banned

initial coin offerings (ICOs) and closed domestic trading platforms for virtual

currencies, the Financial News, a newspaper managed by the People's Bank of

China, reported Tuesday. China's measures to curb virtual currency trading will

not impact the development and study of blockchain technology as virtual

currencies and blockchain technology are different and should be judged

differently, the newspaper said, citing analysts. Sun Guofeng, head of the

financial research institute at the PBOC, told the newspaper that blockchain is

a good technology that should not be equated with ICOs, and people should expand

their horizons on developing it. (Financial News)

     In the final days before the week-long "Golden Week" holiday, a debate has

emerged in the market on whether to hold onto bonds through the holiday or to

cash out now, the China Securities Journal said Tuesday, citing analysts.

Holding bonds to lock in current yields would be a better choice, the newspaper

argued, since there is a strong chance that liquidity will be loosed at the end

of the month and it may improve further after the holiday. Though uncertainties

over the monetary policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central

Bank do pose risks, those risks won't materialize during the holiday, analysts

were quoted as saying. In the short term, the market is optimistic due to recent

relatively weak economic data and expectations for improved money supply ahead,

experts said. As the market becomes accustomed to new regulations, the bond

market could gain momentum, the newspaper said. (China Securities Journal)

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,MBQ$$$]