IN BRIEF (Page 13)

New house price indexes unveiled

China will release two new indexes for home prices and change the survey's methodology, the National Bureau of Statistics said, as the government faces pressure to rein in rising property prices.

The government will release two indexes of new and second-hand home sales from January, the agency said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday. It will stop releasing national average property prices, according to the statement.

ABC links up with Promsvyazbank

Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (ABC) and OAO Promsvyazbank, Russia's third-largest non-state lender, have signed an accord to conduct operations in Chinese yuan.

The agreement is part of Russia's efforts to boost economic ties with China, Promsvyazbank President Artem Konstandian said in a statement on Wednesday.

Gold appetite undimmed

Chinese demand for physical gold and gold-related investments is growing at an "explosive" pace and the appetite for the yellow metal will remain robust amid inflation concerns, said an Industrial and Commercial Bank of China executive. The bank sold about 7 tons of physical gold in January this year, nearly half the entire 15 tons of bullion sold in the whole of 2010, said Zhou Ming, deputy head of the bank's precious metals department on Wednesday.

Bloomberg News - Reuters

(China Daily 02/17/2011 page13)