MNI China Press Digest, March 27: Electric Car, RRR Cut, Home

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

Wednesday:

     China will halve subsidies to electric automakers this year and remove all

subsidies by the end of 2020, according to the Ministry of Finance and three

other ministries. A statement on the MOF website said the ministries are working

on new policies to support fuel cell vehicles and accelerate the use of electric

buses.

     Monetary policy will remain in a loose bias in Q2 and the PBOC may lower

the reserve requirement ratio by 50 bp in April, said Song Xuetao, head of the

research team at Tianfeng Securities. In a research report, Song said the yield

on the 10-year China Government Bond could fall below the 3.0% level and hit

2.9% if there is a RRR cut in April. The economy is still in a short-cycle

downturn in Q2, mainly dampened by sluggish external demand, Song added.

     The market for established houses is warming up in hotspot cities with both

prices and the number of transactions rebounding, according to a report

published by Industrial Securities. The report says that prices of established

houses in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have increased 4%, 12% and 8%

respectively since the beginning of this year, with transaction volumes in

Beijing and Shenzhen up by 40% y/y as of this week. The report says the outlook

for established housing in first and second-tier cities is positive in the

coming years.

--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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