Market Opener: Chinese retailers, hotels in focus as Beijing mulls boosting consumption
Chinese retailers, car makers and food and beverage producers may see near-term upside after news reports that Beijing has drafted a new plan to sharply boost domestic consumption.
Shanghai Security News said on Tuesday that China is drafting a five-year plan, aiming to boost overall retail sales of so-called social consumption products by 80 per cent to 32 trillion yuan.
The measures include adjusting consumption duty for certain products, providing more subsidies for trading in old cars or for purchasing furniture and construction material. Beijing is also eyeing a cut in sales tax for restaurants, according to the report.
Food stocks such as Ajisen China (0538.HK) and retailers such as Beijing Jingkelong (0814.HK) were named as potential beneficiaries of the new consumption stimulus plan.
In London, the FTSE-100 Index rose more than 0.7 per cent to end at 5,758.41, reflecting investors' expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) would announce a new round of bond purchases to cut borrowing costs for debt-laden countries like Spain and Italy. The US market was closed for holiday on Monday.
Factors to watch:
-- Mongolian Energy (0276.HK) issued profit warning
The coking coal producer said it may record a "substantial" gross interim operating loss, blaming low coking coal prices and weak sales.
-- CHALCO scrapped its US$929 million bid for SouthGobi
State-owned CHALCO (2600.HK) has dropped its US$926 million bid for a majority stake in Mongolia-focused coal miner SouthGobi Resources (1878.HK) after stiff political opposition from the Mongolia government.
-- Xinjiang has secured over 600 billion yuan worth of investments
China's resources-rich Xinjiang province has attracted over 600 billion yuan in investment during the China-Asia-Europe expo to develop projects in this region, mainly in the energy, logistics and agriculture sectors, according to the Economic Information Daily on Tuesday.
-- China may announce further subsidies for energy-saving cars
China may pick key types of energy saving cars for subsidies to help their development, Security Times reported Tuesday, which reported that the government is considering widening the usage of hybrid power in public transportat and boosting purchases of green cars, according to the paper.