MNI China Press Digest, June 5: Rare Earth, PBOC, Trade Spat

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports

on Wednesday:

     China should impose stricter controls over the export of rare earth

materials and track them through the supply chain, Xinhua News Agency reported

late Tuesday, citing unnamed experts speaking at an NDRC symposium. The

government should strengthen overall supervision on the industry, cracking down

on illegal production and smuggling, Xinhua cited the experts as saying.

     As central banks around the world continue to turn dovish, with cutting

rates, the PBOC may follow the trend and lower policy rates such as the reverse

repo rate, and guide the spread to a "comfortable level", said Ming Ming, chief

analyst at CITIC Securities in a report published today. The PBOC may also

consider further cutting the rate of target medium-term lending facility, so as

to lower the financing cost for private and small companies, Ming added.

     The impact of China-U.S. trade frictions is generally controllable, with

business confidence and market expectation becoming more stable and rational,

the PBOC-run Financial News said today. The corporate confidence index covering

key taxpayers nationwide revered the declining trend and rose four pps to 125.23

in Q1 from Q4 2018, indicating increasing willingness of investment and

production, the paper said.

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

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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