Markets down for 2nd week running

  The Chinese mainland’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended four of its five trading days last week down, with a week-on-week drop of 2.30 percent to 2,642.82 points, the lowest closing point since September 29,…

Cities rein in home prices

  BEIJING – More Chinese cities have seen month-on-month declines in the prices of both new and secondhand homes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday.  The NBS said in a statement…

Developers seek profits below the surface

  BEIJING – With the volume of home sales continuing to fall amid strict measures aimed at tightening the property market and lowering house prices, some real estate companies are trying to dig their way…

Govt gets earful of tax suggestions

  BEIJING – Only 15 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction at a proposed new income tax threshold.  The proposed increase, which was put online to gauge public opinion, received responses from more than 82,000 people. …

Trades reveal China shift from dollar

China began diversifying away from the US dollar in earnest in the first four months of this year, most likely by buying far more European government debt than US dollar assets, according to estimates from…

The King of Really Big Diamonds Heads to China

   “We make more sales to newer money,” says Laurence Graff, shown above with a 20-carat, emerald-cut white diamond ring. ON this big night out, Gisele Bündchen, darling of the cameras, is decked out in…

Foreign banks OK’d to underwrite corporate debt

   HSBC Holdings’ building in the financial district of Hong Kong. The China units of HSBC Holdings and Citigroup Inc have won initial approval to underwrite corporate debt in the country. [Photo / China Daily]…