IN BRIEF (Page 13)

SGIS stake transferred

The Shenzhen-listed SGIS Songshan Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Guangdong Shaoguan Iron & Steel Group, announced on Monday evening that the State-owned assets supervision and administration commission of Guangdong province had transferred for free its 51 percent stake in Guangdong Shaoguan Iron & Steel Group to Baoshan Iron and Steel Group Corp, or Baosteel Group.

After the transfer, Baosteel will indirectly hold a stake of 36.27 percent in SGIS Songshan. SGIS Songshan reported a loss of as much as 1.17 billion yuan ($185 million) in the fiscal year 2011.

China Travel obtains loan

China Travel Service Hong Kong Ltd has signed a loan agreement of about HK$1.5 billion ($193 million) with five banks, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified.

The lenders are Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, Bank of China Ltd, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, HSBC Holdings Plc and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank Co, the person said.

Stocks retreat on mainland

Shares on the Chinese mainland suffered their biggest daily loss in more than three weeks on Tuesday. The retreat came after hopes for a cut in the reserve-requirement ratios for banks in the near future were doused, with the Shanghai benchmark breaking below key chart support, pointing to further weakness ahead.

The mainland's slide spread to the Hong Kong markets, reversing early gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index finished down 1.7 percent at 2,291.9 points, breaking below chart support at 2,300, a level that had capped gains for most of the past month.

CIC considers Sunshine IPO

China Investment Corp is considering investing $150 million in Sunshine Oilsands Ltd's initial public offering in Hong Kong, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp is also considering buying about $150 million of the shares offered in the IPO, said the people, who declined to be identified. Sunshine Oilsands, based in Calgary, plans to sell about $350 million in stock to so-called cornerstone investors, the people said.

BOC International Holdings Ltd, Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley are managing the sale, the people said. A phone call to the press office of CIC, China's sovereign wealth fund, went unanswered.

Gasoline, diesel prices to go up

China will raise domestic gasoline and diesel prices starting on Wednesday, the first increase in 10 months, C1 Energy, a commodity researcher, said on its website on Tuesday. Those prices will increase by about 300 yuan ($47.55) a metric ton, the Shanghai-based C1 said on its website, citing unidentified people at China's two largest State-owned energy companies. The average ceiling price of gasoline will be raised to 9,380 yuan a ton and diesel to 8,530 yuan, it said.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 02/08/2012 page13)