MNI China Daily Summary: Monday, October 21

     POLICY: China's top planner on Monday said its economy isn't in a "severe

slowdown" as portrayed by some foreign media and insisted that the growing power

consumption and volumes of freight and passenger transportation in the first

three quarters support the official view that the economy is stable. China will

meet major growth targets this year, Yuan Da, a spokesman for the National

Development and Reform Commission, told reporters.

     LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected net CNY50 billion by

7-day reverse repos, according to Wind Information.

     RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository

institutions (DR007) increased to 2.7205% from Friday's close of 2.6997%, data

by Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average rose to 2.6934% from

Friday's 2.6183%. 

     YUAN: The yuan strengthened to 7.0678 against the U.S. dollar from Friday's

close of 7.0825. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate firmer at

7.0680, the highest in five weeks. That compared with 7.0690 on Friday. 

     BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bond was last at 3.2150%, up

from Friday's close of 3.1825%, according to Wind Information. 

     STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index increased 0.05% to 2,939.62. Hong

Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up 0.02% to 26,725.68.

     FROM THE PRESS: The Chinese economy is expected to stabilize in Q4 after a

slowdown in Q3, the Economic Information Daily reported citing analysts. Retail

sales are likely to further rebound in Q4, helped by improved car sales and

rapid growth of services in education, entertainment and health care, the

newspaper said. The low base of GDP growth in the same period last year could

also help to buoy the Q4 growth figure, the newspaper added.

     The opening-up of China's financial industry will make it more competitive,

effectively enhance the ability of China's financial sector to service the real

economy, the PBOC-affiliated newspaper Financial News said in a commentary. The

entry of foreign investment would increase the effective allocation of Chinese

and global financial sources, the newspaper said.

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

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 8532 5998; email: william.bi@mni-news.com

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