MNI China Press Digest, March 14: Shadow Banking, SOEs, OMOs

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

on Thursday:

     The contraction of China's shadow banking sector will be stable and it will

emerge to play a positive role in the real economy, Xinhua News Agency said

today. For the first two months, Xinhua cited central bank data showing that

off-balance sheet financings had decreased by a total CNY21.7 billion, declining

at a much slower pace than the average monthly contraction of CNY209.2 billion

in Q4 last year.

     Large state-owned commercial banks can carry out pilot mixed ownership

reform with the aim of attracting private and foreign capital, according to

reports in the Shanghai Securities News. The newspaper quotes Xiao Gang, the

former chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, who also encouraged

major state-owned banks to expand overseas through the Belt & Road initiative.

     The People's Bank of China (PBOC), which has skipped open market operations

(OMOs) for eleven consecutive days, is expected to restart operations soon,

reports the China Securities Journal today. The Journal says that total

liquidity is continuing to face downward pressure from the increased impact of

tax season, the accelerated issuance of local government bonds, as well as the

maturity of medium-term lending facilities(MLF).

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

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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