Biz Scene: MARKET
Stocks surge
China's main stock index rose 68.61 points, or 2.15 percent yesterday, led by steel and financial shares.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,252.60 points. A total of 745 companies gained, while only 44 saw losses in the A-share market. Turnover was heavy at 93.30 billion yuan. Baosteel rose 4.24 percent to 10.32 yuan after it reported a 77 percent leap in its fourth-quarter profit on Friday. Pudong Development Bank climbed 4.94 percent to close at 28.04 yuan.
Copper output to ebb
Yunnan Copper Industry Co, China's third-largest producer of the metal, said its 2007 production will increase at a slower pace than last year.
The company's 2007 output of refined copper will rise by 11 percent to 400,000 metric tons, from last year's 360,100 tons, Yunnan Copper said in a statement. Production increased 12.5 percent in 2006.
The company aims to increase copper output to 600,000 tons by 2010. It plans to sell additional shares to buy copper mines from its parent Yunnan Copper Group to bolster copper ore supplies for its smelters. The company more than doubled its 2006 profit to a record 1.2 billion yuan on rising metal prices and higher output.
(China Daily 04/03/2007 page15)
