Share price performance (%)

1wk: 3.17

3mths:17.56

1mth:5.42

1yr:8.92

The rating on the mainland telecommunications firm has been downgraded to 'reduce' as the grim outlook for China Unicom's data operations could cloud its growth prospects. Analyst Dylan Tinker said in a report China Unicom built its expensive CDMA network in order to gain an advantage on China Mobile and hoped the data services would lure high-end users. But 'so far the high-end users have not been attracted,' he said.

UBS

BUY China Life Insurance

Closing price: $4.40

Target price: $5.30

Share price performance (%)

1wk: 3.29

3mths:13.72

1mth:5.37

1yr:NA

Earnings forecasts for China Life have been cut by 7 per cent this year to 7.41 billion yuan and investment rating on the stock has been downgraded in the light of less optimistic investment yield prospects. Analyst Dorris Chen expected it to report about 1.8 billion yuan in unrealised capital losses from its bond and security fund portfolio this year. Of this, 1.3 billion yuan would come from the security fund investments due to the falling stock market, she wrote in a report.

China International Capital Corp

BUY PetroChina

Closing price: $3.625

Target price: $4.62

Share price performance (%)

1wk: 2.68

3mths:9.37

1mth:2.02

1yr:62.92

S&P has raised its earnings projections on mainland oil producer PetroChina and its price target to $4.62 from $4.47 given firmer crude prices. The research unit expected the crude price for PetroChina to rise by 17.6 per cent this year to US$31.98 per barrel. The research unit cautioned, however, that PetroChina's share price might see a pull back should crude prices disappoint.

S&P's Asian Equity Research