Study Chinese » HSK exam

China Travel – Gold bounces off as clashes in Egypt spur flight to safety

chinnet2net — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:21:46 +0000

Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday jumped the most since Nov. 4, as violent protests in Egypt buoyed up investor’s demand for the relative safety of the precious metal.

The most active gold contract for April delivery surged 21.9 dollars, or 1.7 percent, to 1,341.7 dollars per ounce.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About Chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, HSK, HSK exam, Chinese Exam Preparation, China Business, China Travel, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing

China Business – Chinese shares rise for a third day

chinnet2net — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:20:23 +0000

Chinese stocks advanced for a third day Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.13 percent, or 3.6 points, to 2,752.75 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index climbed 0.84 percent, or 98.9 points, to11,894.23 points.

HSK – China’s banking regulator updates credit card rules

chinnet2net — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:19:07 +0000

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has tightened the rules on the issuance and use of credit cards to limit misuse in the business.

The CBRC ruled that minors under 18 may not have a bank credit card except as a supplementary card affiliated to a family member’s bank account. In addition, it placed a tight borrowing limit on young cardholders and mandated that they receive education in the use of credit cards.

Banks were told they could not charge fees on non-activated credit cards and must talk with cardholders to set up a personalized contract if they have acceptable reasons for missing payments.

“The rules were designed to better cater to the rapid development of the credit card business, which the current regulations, from 1999, cannot do. We must protect the legal rights of consumers while guaranteeing the whole market can develop in a healthy and orderly way,” said Yin Long, deputy head of the Supervisory Cooperation Department for Banking Innovation under CBRC.

The total number of credit cards issued by commercial banks in China has climbed as of this month to 210 million, up by 28 percent year-on-year.

In 2010, credit card turnover in China reached 5.1 trillion yuan ($775 billion), a 46 percent year-on-year increase. Consumers’ credit card spending rose by 44 percent year-on-year to 2.7 trillion yuan, according to CBRC.

The regulations come shortly before the Spring Festival, which begins on Feb 3. To maximize their profits, commercial banks usually launch intensive promotional campaigns as the nation’s biggest festival draws near.

“Owing to the lack of unified regulatory rules, some banks have ignored consumers’ interests and randomly issued cards and assessed fees,” said Zhang Qian, head of the Bank Card Risks Supervision Office of CBRC.

Chinese consumers gave credit card service a 72.59 out of a possible 100 approval rating, and nearly 30 percent complained of unreasonable and hard-to-understand fees, according to a survey conducted by Bankrate, an international service institution specializing in collecting data on, and researching, financial products and information.

But the new rules do not regulate credit card interest rates or the penalties for late payments, Yin said. Also, financial institutions licensed by regulators other than CBRC, such as those licensed by the People’s Bank of China, will temporarily not be affected by the regulations.

The CBRC also ordered on Thursday that the financial derivatives business of commercial banks may not comprise more than 3 percent of their total capital.

Currently at major commercial banks in China, the derivatives business comprises no more than 1 percent of the capital, but that figure is higher at other banks, said Huang Zhi, a senior official at CBRC.

learn mandarin – China’s yuan retreats to 6.5930 per USD Friday

chinnet2net — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:16:16 +0000

The central parity rate of yuan, the Chinese currency, Friday retreated 54 points to 6.5930 against the U.S. dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

China’s central bank announced in June 2010 it would further reform the exchange rate formation mechanism to improve its flexibility.

On China’s foreign exchange spot market, the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the RMB against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.

learn Chinese online – U.S. stocks rise amid increased jobless claims and mixed earnings reports

chinnet2net — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:14:02 +0000

The U.S. stocks rose on Thursday amid more-than-expected claims for unemployment benefits and mixed corporate earnings reports.

According to the Labor Department, initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 51,000 to a seasonally adjusted 454, 000, the highest since late October. That was the largest weekly increase since September 2005.

The jobless claims rose because harsh weather conditions in some parts of the country kept workers at home and caused a backlog in the processing of claims.

The strong profits from the manufacturing sector offset the negative influence from the jobless claims. Companies including Caterpillar Inc, Tyco International Ltd and Eaton Corp posted strong sales and earnings, and investors were looking ahead to their full-year forecasts for signs that strong industrial demand would begin to affect the wider economy.

Time Warner Cable Inc. reported a 22-percent jump in income last quarter.

AT&T Inc. reported that new wireless contracts fell to the lowest level in more than five years.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government said on Thursday it will alter its borrowing strategy to buy some time before hitting the 14.3 trillion dollars debt ceiling.

Moreover, the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in December, was up 2 percent to 93.7 from a downwardly revised reading of 91.9 in November.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.39 points, or 0.04 percent, to 11,989.83. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index increased 2. 91 points, or 0.22 percent, to 1,299.54 and the Nasdaq was up 15. 78 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,755.28.

learn Chinese – Dollar mixed as jobless claim rises

chinnet2net — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:12:27 +0000

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Thursday as initial jobless claim in U.S. last week rose unexpectedly, hurting investors’ faith in the economy.

The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday that the number of people applying for jobless benefits spiked by 51,000 to 454,000 last week, much larger than previous economists’ estimate of a rise to 408,000.

The agency claimed the increase was partly attributed to snow storms in early January.

Also, U.S. durable-goods orders in December failed to meet the markets’ expectation. The Commerce Department said orders fell 2.5 percent, while economists had expected a 1 percent rise.

The euro surged to a two-month high of 1.3760 against the dollar in mid-day trading session on Thursday.

However, the dollar jumped against the Japanese yen as Japan’s sovereign debt rating was downgraded.

The rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut Japan’s sovereign debt rating to AA minus from AA on Thursday, warning that Japan’s government debt ratio would continue to rise more than it had previously expected.

The dollar climbed to near 83 against the yen in late trading session on Thursday.

The dollar index recovered to 77.827, from 77.776 on Wednesday.

In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 82.82 yen, comparing with 82.45 late Wednesday, and the euro rose to 1.3729 dollars from 1.3687.

The British pound also rose to 1.5935 dollars from 1.5885. The dollar rose from 0.9438 to 0.9458 against Swiss francs, but fell to 0.9940 Canadian dollars from 0.9955.

Chinese School – Oil price declines on jobless data

chinnet2net — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:11:40 +0000

U.S. crude oil price dropped on Thursday, as U.S. weekly jobless claims turned out larger than expected, hurting investors’ confidence about the economy.

The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday that the number of people applying for jobless benefits spiked by 51,000 to 454,000 last week, much larger than economists’ previous estimate of a rise to 408,000.

The agency claimed the increase was partly attributed to snowstorms in early January.

Also, U.S. durable-goods orders in December failed the markets’ expectation. The Commerce Department said orders fell 2.5 percent, while economists had expected a 1-percent rise. The weekly report by the Energy Information Administration said U.S. commercial oil storage rose in the week ended Jan. 21, which also pressured the oil price.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery lost 1.69 dollars to 85. 64 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Chinese language – Gold slumps to nearly 4-month low as EU pledges to tackle inflation

chinnet2net — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:11:01 +0000

Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday dived to the lowest level since October 2010, after an official of the European Central Bank pledged to cool down inflation.

The most active gold contract for February delivery shed 14.6 dollars per ounce, or 1.1 percent, to settle at 1,318.4 dollars.

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), said that sharper rises in prices of imported goods carry an inflationary threat that could no longer be ignored, reinforcing the view that the ECB could raise rates sooner than expected.

Market traders noted that investors rushed to sell gold holdings in anticipation of lessened inflation worries, as gold is often seen as the ultimate storer of wealth and a sure beneficiary of unbridled price increases.

Hammered by apparent economic recovery around the world, the gold price has lost seven percent so far this year, after ending 2010 with a 30-percent gain.

A trader noted that the gold market remains vulnerable to more selling, as the ongoing fear of rising interest rates remains in place. The gold market might also remain off balance because of talk of excessive speculation in commodities at the Davos Forum.

However, some analysts still held an optimistic attitude toward gold price in the long run, as a number of key long-term investment drivers remain intact.

Silver for March delivery decreased 9.7 cents, or 0.36 percent, to 27.031 dollars per ounce. However, April platinum further rose 6.6 dollars, or 0.37 percent, to 1,803.5 dollars per ounce.

China Travel – Chinese Banks’ 2010 forex surplus tops 397.7 bln USD: SAFE

chinnet2net — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:10:19 +0000

China’s foreign exchange watchdog said Thursday that the surplus of Chinese banks’ foreign exchange purchases to sales in client transactions increased 51 percent through 2010 to stand at 397.7 billion U.S. dollars at year-end.

China’ s institutional and individual clients sold 1.33 trillion U.S. dollars in foreign exchange to banks in 2010 while purchasing 932.7 billion U.S. dollars, said the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) in an online statement.

In 2009, the annual surplus fell 42 percent to 263.5 billion U.S. dollars, according to SAFE’s data released in March 2010.

The statement noted the figures did not include banks’ own forex transactions and interbank transactions.

The forex surplus in December 2010 totaled 51.5 billion U.S. dollars, as clients sold 146.2 billion U.S. dollars of foreign exchange, up 13 percent from November, while purchasing 94.7 billion U.S. dollars, up 12 percent, it said.

Chinese banks received 1.89 trillion U.S. dollars for their clients in overseas business in 2010 and paid 1.59 trillion U.S. dollars to overseas business, it added.

The SAFE only began releasing monthly and quarterly data on bank foreign exchange transactions in 2010.

China Business – Nikkei up 0.74% on robust Chinese shares, optimism about U.S. economy

chinnet2net — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:09:04 +0000

Tokyo stocks rebounded Thursday, with the key Nikkei stock index gaining 0.74 percent as robust U.S. corporate earnings results lifted expectations that Japanese firms ‘ results will follow suit and a solid performance on Chinese bourses further buoyed the market.

Brokers said that foreign investors were becoming more proactive today, having been disinclined to chase riskier assets due to a lack of new cues and poor earnings results in the U.S. A slew of upbeat U.S. earnings reports and economic data changed the mood, market players added.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that new home sales rose more than expected in December, leaping 17.5 percent from the previous month to an annual pace of 329,000, marking the biggest monthly gain in new-home sales since 1992.

“Coupled with President Barack Obama’s call for lower corporate taxes and a general optimistic reaction to the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting, the U.S. home sale data reinstalled confidence that the world’s largest economy is back on track,” said one Tokyo-based market analyst.

“Asian shares definitely benefitted from the news and concerns about monetary tightening in China have largely been factored in,” he said.

Other analysts concurred that the health of the two largest economies in the world continues to underpin Japanese shares.

“Surplus money is flowing not only into commodity, but also stock markets,” said Mitsushige Akino, asset manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “The sense of recovery in the U.S. and China keeps on going.”

“There’s been speculation about monetary tightening by China before the Lunar New Year, but that has been priced into the market to a great extent. Buying by foreigners could decrease next week, but demand for buying on dips by individual investors is seen as strong,” added Masayuki Otani, market analyst at Securities Japan Inc.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 76.76 points from Wednesday to 10,478.66, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 7.02 points, or 0.76 percent, to 929.66.

In addition, analysts said that news this morning that Japan’s exports rose in December also buoyed market sentiment and encouraged investors to recoup losses on the market’s recent negative closes.

Japanese exports rose a better-than-expected 13.0 percent in Dec. from a year earlier, suggesting Japan’s export-led recovery may be getting back on track, the Finance Ministry said.

The value of exports in the recording period totaled 6,112.8 billion yen (74.5 billion U.S. dollars)and marked the 13th straight month of growth. December’s figure beat economists’ expectations for a 9.2 percent rise and increased from the 9.1 percent rise booked in the year to November.

Notably, exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, jumped 20.1 percent from a year earlier in December and shipments to countries in the wider Asian region rose 14.8 percent, the government said.

Some China-linked issues gained with industrial robotics maker Fanuc, jumping 4.6 percent to 13,250 yen, and was the biggest gainer in the Nikkei Thursday. The company said its nine-month net income rose to 86.6 billion yen (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) from 20. 5 billion yen a year earlier, as sales more than doubled.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries climbed 4 percent to 337 yen and was another notable gainer today, but Hitachi Construction Machinery fell around 1 percent to 1,946 yen, after keeping its earnings outlook unchanged for the year through March.

Gree Inc., however, Japan’s largest social-networking website by market value, surged 7.2 percent to 1,300 yen, the biggest gain since July 23, after saying it will team-up with Tencent Holdings Ltd. of China for smartphone services. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its investment rating on the firm to “overweight” from ” neutral.”

Growing optimism about the health of the global economy sent commodity prices higher, with crude oil rising to 87.33 U.S. dollars in New York and London’s metal exchange gaining 1.2 percent yesterday.

Subsequently, Inpex Corp. climbed 2.7 percent to 533,000 yen and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. rose 1.3 percent to 1,387 yen.

Trading houses mirrored gains, with Marubeni leaping 4.3 percent to 637 yen and fellow trader Mitsui & Co. advancing 0.9 percent to 1,398 yen.

Exporters rose on high expectations for upbeat earnings reports and Canon climbed 2.2 percent to 4,195 yen and NEC gained 1.2 percent to 246 yen. Kyocera, meanwhile, added 1.2 percent to close at 8,480 yen. All three firms were scheduled to report their earnings after the close of trade Thursday.

But Resona Holdings Inc., Japan’s fourth-largest bank, bucked the largely upward momentum of the market, falling 4.7 percent to 426 yen, below the 440 yen price that the bank set for a new public share offering.

Trading volume on Thursday rose to 2.01 billion shares on the Tokyo Exchange’s First Section, up from Wednesday’s volume of 1.67 billion shares, with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones by 1,053 to 463.