E-Newsletter

CHINA IN FOCUS:

Airbus JV to begin assembly operations in China
Airbus has started shipping aircraft components and sub-assemblies to its joint venture in China. The first aircraft from the new single-aisle assembly line in the Chinese port city of Tianjin is expected to be delivered to Sichuan Airlines in the first half of 2008. Six jigs loaded with inputs for an A320 have departed...

Nike Q4 profit rises on higher sales in China, Europe
Nike Inc., the world's largest athletic shoes and apparel maker, posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on strong demand from China and Europe. During the period, revenue surged 16% to US$5.1 billion, compared to US$4.4 billion for the same period last year, while net income rose 12% to US$490.5...

WEEKLY NEWS:

CCB (Asia) hikes mortgage rate in HK (6/23/2008)

China Minmetals to acquire the country's No. 2 lanthanon base (6/23/2008)

China Southern seeks to raise fuel surcharge (6/24/2008)

Chongqing Gangjiu mulls group listing (6/24/2008)

G'vt in talks with Walt Disney to expand HK Disneyland (6/25/2008)

China CIMC to acquire 60% stake in Luxembourg's TGE Gas (6/25/2008)

CNPC begins building China's 1st CBM pipeline (6/26/2008)

China Unicom to transfer 30,000 base stations to China Telecom (6/26/2008)

Citibank sells Schroder's Gold and Metals Fund in China (6/27/2008)

China Southern sees recovery in Q3 2009 (6/27/2008)

NEWS:

CCB (Asia) hikes mortgage rate in HK

Jun. 23, 2008 (China Knowledge) - China Construction Bank (Asia), the Hong Kong unit of China's top property lender China Construction Bank (CCB)<601939><939>, on Thursday hiked its mortgage rate for new home buyers in response to rising funding costs, according to sources.

The bank raised its mortgage rate by 10 basis points from 2.4% to 2.5%, or from 3.1 percentage points below the prime lending rate to 3 percentage points below prime, sources said.

A bank spokeswoman said the move was in conjunction with the global market, as it has had the lowest-priced offerings for a long time.

CCB (Asia) is the second bank in the local market to raise mortgage rate this week. On Monday, DBS Bank (Hong Kong), a relatively smaller lender, made a surprise first move in boosting its mortgage rate by 20 basis points to 2.7%.

However, other lenders such as HSBC<5><HBC>, Bank of China (Hong Kong)<3988>, Hang Seng Bank<11>, ICBC (Asia)<349>, Bank of East Asia<23> and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong)<2888><STAN> have not changed their rates for home loans yet.