BizChina

Chinese shares rose 2.78 percent Wednesday, the first time in four trading days, led by gains of banks and Shanghai local shares.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced 2.78 percent, or 66.75 points, to close at 2,468.19 points. The Shenzhen Component Index gained 3.06 percent, up 278.91 points, to 9,383.21 points.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 786 to 80 in Shanghai and 649 to 84 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover climbed to 179.16 billion yuan (26.25 billion U.S. dollars) from 137.42 billion on the previous trading day.

Banking shares led the gains after the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said Wednesday at a conference that China's State Council, or the Cabinet, had allowed banks to take stakes inthe country's insurance companies.

Industrial Bank Co. rose 7.95 percent to end at 23.75 yuan. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank gained 9.55 percent to 23.06 yuan.

Local shares in Shanghai posted robust growth, boosted by the government's plan to build up the city as a financial and transportation center.

Shanghai Cimic Tile Co., a provider of building materials, electronics and household paper, rose 9.94 percent to 7.08 yuan. Shanghai Industrial Development Co. grew 8.65 percent to 13.69 yuan.

Property shares rose as Gao Hua Securities in Beijing said housing sales remain high in the fourth week of April.

Vanke A-share rose 4.01 percent to 8.30 yuan and Poly Real Estate Group was up 5.87 percent to 23.45 yuan.

Sinopec,the country's top refiner, advanced 2.86 percent to 9.71 yuan after saying its net profit in the first quarter of this year rose 85.1 percent year on year.

China Shenhua Energy Co. added 3.08 percent to 24.74 yuan after reporting a 17 percent increase in its first-quarter profit.

Contracts valued at 2 billion yuan (about 300 million U.S. dollars) had been signed by Monday at the Central China Expo here in Anhui Province, its second day.

Organizers said that despite the global downturn, the number of attendees was about twice that of last year's event.

The fourth Central China Expo targeted six central provinces -- Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Henan and Shanxi -- and attracted about 16,000 participants from about 300 multinational companies such as Carrefour and IBM.

Jean Luc Lhuillier, vice president and general manager for Carrefour's operations in central and western China, said he had discussions about new stores with an official from Zhoukou City, Henan Province.

"I will make an appointment with him for an on-the-spot visit to see whether we can open a new store," he said.

The first foreign company to open stores in the capitals of central provinces like Hubei in 1998 and Anhui in 2002, Carrefour will further explore the central China market, he said.

"This year we will open at least one store in Anhui, two in Hubei, one in Henan and one in Hunan," Lhuillier said.

Chinese equities fall for a third trading day in a row Tuesday, after losses in heavyweights led by PetroChina and Ping An Insurance dragged the market down.

Both companies said late Monday that their profits slipped in the first quarter.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed the day at 2,401.44 points, down 3.91 points, or 0.16 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index edged up 0.24 percent to 9,082.22 points, up 22.08 points.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 591 to 238 in Shanghai and 502 to208 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover shrank to 137.42 billion yuan (20.2 billion U.S. dollars) from 155.41 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Singapore led the world in industrial competitiveness while China rose five places up from the 31st in 2000 to the 26th in 2005 in the rankings of the competitiveness industrial performance (CIP) index, according to the Industrial Development Report 2009 released on Monday by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The Industrial Development Report 2009 said China's CIP has overtaken the Philippines and is approaching Thailand. In 2000, China ranked 31st by scoring 0.387 points in CIP index value. The value rose to 0.418 points in 2005, when data collection ended.

The UNIDO said the CIP index, which measures the ability of countries to produce and export competitively, was used to help assess national industrial performance in the global economy.

The CIP index combines four main dimensions of industrial competitiveness: industrial capacity, manufactured export capacity, industrialization intensity and export quality, it said.

The report said the CIP ranks changed little between 2000 and 2005, and countries at the top and bottom tended to maintain a relatively stable position.

According to the rankings, developed countries congregated near the top, countries with economies in transition and East Asian countries around the upper middle, low-income dynamic countries in the lower middle range, and low-income countries and the least-developed countries at the bottom.

Singapore led the rankings, by scoring 0.887 points of CIP index value in 2000 and 0.890 points in 2005. Ireland and Japan followed, along with Switzerland, Sweden and Germany.

The United States was the only mature industrial power that has seen a deterioration in its relative position, down from the 9th place in 2000 to the 11th in the 2005 ranking. This was the result of the improved performance of the Republic of Korea and China's Taiwan, which ranked the 9th and 10th position in 2005, respectively.

The other two Top 10 countries in the 2005 ranking included Finland and Belgium, according to the report.

The 2009 report was first released this February in Vienna, Austria, where the UNIDO is based. Since then, the UNIDO had been making a worldwide tour of presentations to disseminate information of the report.

The UNIDO first introduced the CIP index in the Industrial Development Report 2002-2003, which was released in late 2002. In that report, China's rankings jumped from the 61st position in 1985 to the 37th in 1998.