BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese commercial banks saw their bad loan ratio declined to 1.58 percent by the end 2009, China Banking Regulatory Commission said on Friday.

    The figure was down 0.84 percentage points from the beginning of 2009, according to the commission.

    The bad loans stood at 497.33 billion yuan (72.82 billion U.S. dollars), down 62.98 billion yuan from the beginning of 2009.

    BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Any individual who wants to trade stock index futures must have 500,000 yuan (73,206 U.S. dollars) in minimum to open an account, said the Shanghai-based China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE) on Friday.

    Besides funds, an individual investor must pass an exam and has certain records on futures trade to participate in the investment, a CFFE spokesman said.

    The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission also issued draft regulations on requirements for stocks index futures investors Friday to solicit public opinions.

    Compared with stocks and bonds, stock index futures are of higher risks and thus dealers must have enough special knowledge, funds and capacities to stand risks, said a spokesperson for the commission.

    The regulations aimed to protect investors, especially small ones, the spokesperson said.

    China’s securities regulator on Jan. 12 approved the CFFE to undertake stock index futures trade.

    The State Council on Jan. 8 approved “in principle” the launch of stock index futures.

    Stock index futures are an agreement to buy or sell an index at a preset value on an agreed date. Index futures would give investors a mechanism to profit from declines in stock prices, allowing them to hedge risks and helping ease fluctuations in the market.

    BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — China reported 65,000 kilometers of highways designed for fast traffic by the end of 2009, second only to the United States, said Li Shenglin, Minister of Communications, on Friday.

    China opened 4,719 kilometers of expressways in 2009 and launched construction of 16,000 kilometers of expressways last year as a result of increased investment in infrastructure, Li said at a national work meeting in Beijing.

    According to the strategic plan for highway development in 2005,by 2020, China will establish a national highway network, totaling100,000 kilometers, about the length in the United States today.

    The network could be achieved ahead of time based on the current development speed, Li said.

    China has maintained its second place in the world in terms of expressway lengths since 2001.

    BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — China discovered nearly 5 billion tonnes of iron ore deposits in 2009, chief engineer with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) said Friday.

    The deposits were discovered in provinces including northeastern Liaoning, northern Hebei, eastern Shandong and Anhui,and southwestern Sichuan, said Zhang Hongtao, MLR chief engineer.

    The total discovered deposits included an iron ore deposit withan estimated reserve of more than 3 billion tonnes in northeast China’s Liaoning Province and 1 billion tonnes of verified iron deposits in Hebei, said Zhang.

    He said the 1 billion tonnes of verified reserves in Hebei was easy to mining with their shallow depth.

    The reserves in Hebei have been put under a national construction plan and would become an important iron ore source to China’s iron industry once put into production, Zhang said.

    MACAO, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — A trade fair to promote products from east China’s Zhejiang Province was kicked off in Macao Friday, with more than 4,000 local brands exhibited for three days.

    The Zhejiang’s China Time-Honored Brands and Zhejiang Macao Branded Products Fair 2010 displayed products of 110 enterprises in Zhejiang, including traditional Chinese medicine and health care products, food and beverage, general merchandise, cultural arts and crafts, and tea products.

    The fair will further enhance the trade, economic and cultural exchange between Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Zhejiang province, said Jin Yonghui, director-general of Zhejiang’s Department of Commerce.

    He also said the event would help Zhejiang learn from the SAR’s trade and economic experience, and deepen business and economic exchange and cooperation between Macao and Zhejiang.

    The fair was part of the 2010 Macao-Zhejiang Week, a business promotional event organized by the provincial government of Zhejiang.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis

    HONG KONG, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — The benchmark Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong closed 0.29 percent lower after range trading, although it narrowed its losses slightly towards the end of the session to regain the 100 day moving average of about 21,600.

    The blue chip index opened at 21,715.09, down 0.01 percent, and once tracked mainland gains to rise to 21,788.85. Then selling pressure pushed the index down to the day’s low of 21,581.07 before it narrowed losses to close at 21,654.16.

    Turnover totaled 84.28 billion HK dollars (10.81 billion U.S. dollars), compared with Thursday’s 84.20 billion HK dollars (10.8 billion U.S. dollars).

    The HSI futures were trading at a discount of 101 points, suggesting downside risks in the short term. Analysts also saw more downside risks for the benchmark index, with some saying that it was possible for it to test the 21,000 mark in the near term.

    Market heavyweight HSBC was down 0.15 HK dollars, or 0.16 percent, at 90.7 HK dollars. Its local unit Hang Seng Bank was down 0.53 percent at 113.2 HK dollars.

    China Mobile, the leading mobile carrier on the mainland, closed down 0.63 percent at 78.9 HK dollars after gaining ground earlier on reports that authorities will be promoting integration of telecom, internet and cable television services.

    Smaller rival China Unicom was down 0.27 HK dollars, or 2.69 percent, at 9.77 HK dollars.

    The mainland banking giants were mixed, with China Construction Bank up 0.49 percent, ICBC down 0.34 percent and Bank of China up 1.01 percent.

    Export-related shares gained, with shipping stock COSCO Pacific up 1.39 percent at 13.12 HK dollars. Fashion brand Esprit Holdings was up 2.28 percent at 58.25 HK dollars on a rating upgrade.

    Chip maker Foxconn surged 6.37 percent to close at 11.02 HK dollars thanks to improving sales reported by Intel.

    The properties stocks suffered losses, with business conglomerate Cheung Kong, headed by Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, down 0.71 percent. Sun Hung Kai Properties, the leading residential housing developer, finished the day down 1.52 percent at 109.9 HK dollars. (7.8 HK dollars = 1 U.S. dollar)

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis