Briefly

12 firms fined for violating law

China's top market watchdog on Friday imposed administrative penalties on 12 companies including internet giants Tencent and Baidu for violating antimonopoly law in 10 deals. The deals include Tencent's equity acquisition of online education platform Yuanfudao and Baidu's equity acquisition of Ainemo Inc, a company in smart home hardware terminals and services, according to an online statement released by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

PBOC injects $1.54b via reverse repos

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, conducted 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion) of reverse repos on Friday to maintain reasonably ample liquidity in the banking system. The interest rate for the seven-day reverse repos was set at 2.2 percent, according to a statement on the PBOC website. A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

Good demand for CIIE exhibition space

Over 60 percent of the planned exhibition space at the fourth China International Import Expo has already been booked, according to the CIIE Bureau. The fourth CIIE will feature new sections for integrated circuits, biomedicine, smart travel, and innovation incubation, said Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the CIIE Bureau. The fourth CIIE will be held from Nov 5 to Nov 10 in Shanghai this year, and will include business exhibitions, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, country exhibitions and a range of other activities.

Vehicle sales rise 364.8% in February

Automobile sales rose 364.8 percent on a yearly basis to 1.455 million units in February, data from an industry association showed. The huge growth was due to the sharp drop in sales during the same period a year ago and the country's recovering market demand this year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. During the first two months of this year, automobile sales totaled 3.958 million units, up 76.2 percent on a yearly basis.

Xinhua