WORLD BUSINESS NEWS BY Sainsbury’s stock up on possible bid Page 17 BUSINESS

FRIDAY MARCH 2, 2007 13

MARKET (As of 9pm yesterday, Beijing time)

Index Last % Chg First village Shanghai Comp 2797.19 -2.91 Shenzhen Comp 719.903 -2.30 Shanghai B 172.315 -3.38 Shenzhen B 489.746 -0.91 bank opens Xinhua/FTSE A 10027.81 -3.03 Xinhua/FTSE China 25 14686.94 -2.80 Xinhua FTSE 200 7167.12 -2.98 Dow Jones 12268.63 0.00 in NASDAQ 2416.15 0.00 FTSE 6089.5 -1.33 Nikkei 17453.51 -0.86 Institution part of pilot program Frankfurt 6587.49 -1.91 to boost rural fi nancial services Hang Seng 19346.6 -1.55 Taipei 7678.67 -2.83 By Zhang Lu Bangkok 680.6 0.51 Five private companies based in own the other half Kuala Lumpur 1180.91 -1.30 of the bank. Seoul 1417.34 0.00 China’s fi rst village bank opened The village bank offers small Singapore 3092.58 -0.37 for business yesterday in South- loans and deposit services. Manila 3190.12 4.00 west China’s Sichuan Province, Farmers can get loans of up Jakarta 1759.49 1.06 part of a pilot program to improve to 20,000 yuan without guar- Mumbai 13159.55 1.71 rural fi nancial services. antee, while small enterprises Bloomberg The Sichuan Yilong Huimin or farmers engaged in special County Bank, in Nanchong of areas can obtain loans of up to Sichuan Province, has regis- 100,000 yuan. Facts and fi gures EXCHANGERATE tered capital of 2 million yuan. The interest rate for loans is Sichuan Yilong Huimin County Bank has registered capital It is one of the fi rst fi ve new higher than the central bank’s of 2 million yuan and is 50 percent-owned by Nanchong City Market exchange rates in RMB set by types of rural fi nancial institu- benchmark interest rate. and Ma’an in Yilong County offi cial, told China Daily. Commercial Bank. the People’s Bank of China (March 1) tions approved after the bank- The bank is the smallest yesterday. Wu said they planned to build Farmers can get loans of up to 20,000 yuan without Currency Unit Rate ing regulator lowered market in China, with only 10 staff The company provides only a convenient and fl exible borrow- guarantee from the village bank. Small enterprises and US dollar 100 774.72 entry restrictions in the rural and two counters at one outlet loans service. ing processes and develop small farmers engaged in special areas can obtain loans of up to Euro 100 1025.44 banking sector in December. covering an area of 40 square The two rural financial loan products tailored to farm- 100,000 yuan. Japanese yen 100 6.5289 According to officials from meters. institutions have already held ers and the rural sector. The bank is one of the fi rst fi ve rural fi nancial institutions HK dollar 100 99.17 the Sichuan branch of the China The Huimin Lending Com- shareholder meetings, elected As one of six pilot provinces approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. The Banking Regulatory Commission pany, a subsidiary of the village boards of directors and super- for rural fi nancial institutions se- other four are Yilong Huimin Lending Company, a subsidiary of Bank of China exchange rates in RMB (CBRC), Nanchong City Com- bank and 100 percent-invested visors, and worked out company lected by the CBRC, Sichuan has the Huimin County Bank, Dongfeng Chengxin Village Bank in Currency Unit Buying Selling mercial Bank holds a 50 percent by Nanchong City Commercial regulations and management chosen Nanchong, and Jilin Province, Baixin Rural Mutual Cooperative in Jilin, and Xingle Rural Mutual Cooperative in Qinghai Province. British pound 100 1512.25 1524.39 stake in the new village bank. Bank, also opened in Jincheng rules, Wu Qifu, a Yilong County for the program. HK dollar 100 98.89 99.26 US dollar 100 772.55 775.65 Swiss franc 100 632.51 637.6 A hope for rural areas, but more needs to be done Singapore dollar 100 504.86 508.92 Swedish krone 100 110.07 110.95 By Zhang Lu gling to channel lending to its TOTHE opened yesterday in Sichuan New rural financial instead of just easing the mar- Danish krone 100 136.93 138.03 vast rural areas, still not ade- POINT and three others to be opened institutions are supposed to ket entry restrictions. Norwegian krone 100 125.9 126.91 quately served by the existing soon, is expected to breathe life bring competition to the market, It is profi ts that will drive Japanese yen 100 6.5193 6.5717 he opening of two new fi nancial system. Villages are And, only 60 percent of the 120 into the rural fi nancial sector. supporting the building of “a businesses to rural areas, and Canadian dollar 100 659.88 665.18 rural financial institu- home to less than one-sixth of million rural households that The pilot scheme planned in new socialist countryside” along it is generally held that these tions yesterday gives all bank branches, accounting need bank loans are able to six provinces and autonomous with other fi nancial institutions won’t come easy in rural areas, Australian dollar 100 607.17 612.04 T hope to the large number of for 15 percent of the country’s access them. regions — Hubei, Jilin, Sichuan, serving villages. with high operation costs and Euro 100 1020.38 1028.58 low-income Chinese farmers deposits and loans in 2006. The new policy unveiled in Qinghai, Gansu and Inner But to really arouse the in- bigger management risks. Macao pataca 100 96.72 97.08 and small rural businesses that Cities get 10 times more December, which introduced Mongolia — encourages terest of commercial fi nancial Philippine peso 100 15.87 16 they will enjoy wider access to loans per person than the coun- new types of rural financial individuals, private companies institutions and private inves- To comment or alert us to a story, Thai baht 100 22.74 22.93 bank loans. tryside, where over 60 percent institutions like the village and all fi nancial institutions to tors, the government needs to e-mail [email protected] China has long been strug- of the 1.3 billion population live. bank and the lending company get involved in rural fi nancing. offer more preferential policies Ping An soars on debut

INSURANCE After experiencing a fall of 2005 book value, exceeded only 8.8 percent on Tuesday from by its rival, China Life, whose By Hu Yuanyuan an all-time high, Shanghai’s stock price is about 11.5 times stock market rebounded 3.9 its book value, and much higher percent on Wednesday, but than the world’s insurance Ping An Insurance (Group), was again down 2.91 percent average of 2.5 times. China’s second-largest yesterday. “The recent big fl uctuation insurer, saw its shares In contrast, Ping An’s A shares in the market made Ping An’s jump 38.4 percent on their opened 48 percent higher at 50 Shanghai debut more rational Shanghai debut yesterday, yuan against its offer price of compared with that of China despite the plunging Shanghai 33.80 yuan. It hit a high of 50.97 Life,” said Chris Tang, senior Composite Index. yuan during the day and closed manager of Marco Polo Pure “The second mainland- at 46.79 yuan, making it the China Fund. “But I still listed insurer does not seem most expensive fi nancial stock don’t plan to buy it at such to have been impacted by on the mainland. a price.” the recent ups and downs Ping An’s Chairman Ma Tang said her preferred in the market, indicating Mingzhe said he was happy price would be 35 to 38 yuan, investors’ strong enthusiasm with the debut price and the depending on the insurer’s for insurance stocks and company would extend its performance. optimism for the market business into banking and as- In the first nine months in the long run,” said Dong set management. of 2006 alone, Ping An’s net Chen, an analyst at CITIC The Shenzhen-based profit hit 3.7 billion yuan, China Securities. insurer is seeking to build exceeding 3.3 billion yuan for a financial services group all of 2005. Ping An Insurance that will get two-thirds of Although insurance stocks Share price (yuan) Mar 1 its revenue from banking, are popular with investors 51 securities and asset because of their shortage in management. For the six the mainland market and months ended on June 30, the huge growth potential of 48 these segments accounted China’s insurance sector, Tang for about 8 percent of Ping said her primary choice for 46 An Insurance’s net profit. fi nancial stocks was those of Yesterday’s stock price put securities companies, followed Ping An at about nine times its by insurance and banks. Warner Bros offl oads theaters

ENTERTAINMENT Last November, WBIC said it ventures in the entertainment “must stop its investments in sector. By Li Fangfang cinemas due to a major regu- WBIC decided last year to latory change”. Warner Bros withdraw from the market and said it remained committed to pull out of all its six cinemas, Warner Bros International its other businesses in China, although the company had Cinemas (WBIC), the global including local language fi lm maintained the top position in cinema division of Warner production, a home video joint the industry for years. In 2005, Bros, and leading Chinese venture, consumer products total box offi ce revenue from its industry player China Film and studio stores, all of which theaters was 120 million yuan, Group (CFG) said yesterday have different legal structures, compared with a total market of CFG would take over three business models and regulatory 2 billion yuan. of WBIC’s six cinemas in the requirements. A WBIC spokesperson told country. In 2003, China allowed seven China Daily yesterday that the Located in Chongqing Mu- cities to open theaters with 75 disposal of its remaining three nicipality, Changsha in Cen- percent foreign investment on cinemas is “still under negotia- tral China’s Hunan Province a trial basis. WBIC made plans tion”, without disclosing further and Nanchang in East China’s in 2004 to build 40 cinemas in details. Jiangxi Province, all three China by 2008 through local The cinemas are in cinemas are joint projects of partners. Guangzhou, operated with WBIC and SZITIC (Shenzhen But the Chinese government Guangzhou Jin Yi Audio-visual International Trust & Invest- in 2005 barred foreign Investment Co, and in Shanghai ment Co Ltd) Commercial investors from holding and Nanjing, co-run with the Property Co Ltd. majority stakes in joint Shanghai Film Group.