MNI China Press Digest, Oct. 18: A-Share, TSF, China-US

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

Thursday:

     The local governments of Beijing and Guangzhou are trying to ease the

liquidity pressure for listed companies amid the A-share stock rout, following

Shenzhen's purchases of tens of billions of shares, Shanghai Securities Journal

reported on Thursday. The Gangzhou government is considering bailing out its

listed firms with the risk of equity pledge, according to a government official,

after studying Shenzen's policies, the newspaper said. Beijing has set up a fund

worth CNY10 billion to support high-quality tech firms, from which companies can

get funded by assigning no more than 10% of the equity, the report said.

(Link to the story: https://tinyurl.com/ycqm776b, https://tinyurl.com/ybwxobb2)

     The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has adjusted the measurement of total

social financing (TSF) for the second time in three months by now including

local government bonds in TSF -- which, while propping up TSF's gains in

September, fails to cover up the contraction of the actual figures, Securities

Times reported on Thursday. TSF rose to CNY2.21 trillion in September, compared

to a value of CNY1.51 trillion in August. However, when the CNY700 billion in

local government bonds issued in the month are removed from the total,

September's TSF continued on a downward trend with a narrowing growth rate,

creating a new record low, the Times said. 

(Link to the story: https://tinyurl.com/ycu63ck8)

     The U.S. Treasury has remained professional, withstanding President Trump's

arbitrary pressure, and has not labelled China as a currency manipulator in its

latest biannual foreign exchange report, said Global Times on Thursday. China

does not meet the national standards for exchange rate manipulation set by

Congress. These criteria include: a trade surplus of at least USD20 billion with

the United States, a current account surplus of more than 3% of GDP, and

repeated intervention in the foreign exchange market, according to the

newspaper, citing a Bloomberg report. As soon as the report came out, the

offshore RMB exchange rate against the U.S. dollar began to rise, passing 6.93,

Global Times said. 

(Link to the story: https://tinyurl.com/ycjprl4f)

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

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86-10-8532-5998; email: beijing@marketnews.com

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