Biz Scene: MARKET

Stocks slide

Most Chinese stocks fell yesterday, but banking majors like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) supported the main index.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed just 0.26 percent up to 4663.16 points. Turnover on the Shanghai A-share market stood at 158.92 billion yuan yesterday. Losing Shanghai stocks outnumbered gainers 545 to 231.

Sina profit up

Sina Corp, which runs China's biggest website, said second-quarter profit surged 38.4 percent as more companies bought online ads.

Net income rose to $14.5 million from $10.4 million a year earlier, and sales rose 11 percent to $59.8 million. The firm estimated that third-quarter revenue would range between $63 million and $65 million. Its key income driver in the second quarter was online advertising, which grew more than 40 percent and generated 68.9 percent of total revenue.

TCL narrows loss

TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, one of the world's top three television makers by unit sales, said its first-half loss narrowed by 86 percent after it closed its loss-making operation in Europe.

The unit of TCL Group posted a loss of HK$220 million for the first six months of the year, from a HK$1.6 billion loss a year earlier. Turnover was HK$9.51 billion, down 34 percent.

The company sold 7 million televisions globally in the first half, 35 percent less than a year earlier. Total television sales dropped 38 percent to HK$8.2 billion from HK$13.2 billion a year earlier.

(China Daily 08/09/2007 page15)