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Wednesday January 10, 2018

Chinese RMB

100 Hong Kong dollars 83.10100 U.S. dollars 649.93 100 Japanese yen 5.7569 100 Euros 776.10100 British pounds 879.45100 Swiss francs 662.59100 Canadian dollars 523.09 100 Australian dollars 509.71 100 Singapore dollars 486.76

Hong Kong dollar 7.8211Japanese yen 112.89 Euro 0.8374 British pound 0.7390 Swiss franc 0.9809 Canadian dollar 1.2425 Australian dollar 1.2751 Singapore dollar 1.3352

U.S. dollar

Shanghai Composite Index

Shanghai B

Shenzhen Component Index

Shenzhen B

Last 347.19 Open 348.04 High 348.55 Low 346.68 Change -0.24%

Last 11,447.09 Open 11,371.93 High 11,449.60 Low 11,358.13 Change 0.57%

Last 1,202.20 Open 1,193.13 High 1,207.88 Low 1,192.93 Change 0.73%

Last 3,413.90 Open 3,406.11 High 3,417.23 Low 3,403.59 Change 0.13%

Exchange Rates (Tuesday)

Stock Indices (Tuesday)

ALIBABA Group Holding Ltd. will “seriously consider” listing in Hong Kong, founder Jack Ma said, marking a potential boon for the fi nancial hub which recently decided to move towards allowing dual-class share listings.

Ma made the comments at an event in the city Monday in response to remarks made by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam about how she hoped Alibaba would consider returning to Hong Kong to list, an Alibaba spokeswoman said.

“Daring to speak like this marks a strong commitment so we will defi nitely seriously consider the Hong Kong market,” Ma said in response to Lam’s speech.

The Alibaba spokeswoman said there were no further details available on what any Hong Kong listing plan could involve.

Alibaba held its record US$25 billion public fl oat in New York in 2014 after Hong Kong, its favored venue, refused to accept its governance structure where a self-selecting group of senior managers control the majority of board appointments.

But Hong Kong is now set to allow dual-class shares under rule changes to be proposed by the city’s stock exchange as it raises the stakes in its battle against New York for blockbuster mainland initial public offerings (IPOs).

Hong Kong Exchanges and

Clearing (HKEX), the city’s exchange operator, said in December that it had begun drafting specifi c rule changes that will be put up for a formal public consultation in the fi rst three months of 2018.

Under the planned rule changes, “innovative” Chinese companies with a market capi-talization over HK$10 billion (US$1.3 billion) and a primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ or the London Stock Exchange would be able to seek a secondary listing in Hong Kong. The HKEX has not yet defi ned what “innovative” is.

“We are also creating a new route to secondary listings in Hong Kong to attract companies from emerging and innova-tive sectors. We are aware that many successful new economy companies already listed in the United States and United King-dom would benefi t from these reforms,” wrote Charles Li, chief executive of HKEX, in a blog post last month when the proposed changes were put forward.

Just 3 percent of Hong Kong listings in the past decade, by market value, have been so-called “new economy” companies, compared with 47 percent for the New York Stock Exchange, according to a dis-cussion paper published by the HKEX in June. (SD-Agencies)

Alibaba founder to ‘consider’ HK listing

THE government has issued stricter rules on building new steel production capacity to replace obsolete facilities, the Ministry of Industry and Information Tech-nology said late Monday.

The move has underscored China’s determination to ban growth in its massive steel sector and turned steel prices to posi-tive from negative as investors expected China’s steel capacity will continue falling this year.

China, the world’s top steel pro-ducer, will allow one ton of new capacity to be built for a minimum of 1.25 tons of old capacity closed in environmentally sensitive regions, effective this year, the

ministry said in a statement.The statement, long-awaited

by market players, offered clearer details on closing capaci-ties to build new plants, based on the size of blast furnace, converters and other facilities to be shut down.

The strict standard on capac-ity swaps has eased market worries that China will not loosen its restrictions on build-ing new projects, a manager with a trading fi rm in Hangzhou said, declining to be named.

The new rules are a sign China will continue to deepen its efforts to push supply-side reform and reduce overcapacity

in the sector. China is aiming to cut steel capacity by 100 mil-lion to 150 million tons over the 2016-2020 period, the State Council said in early 2016 as part of a fi ve-year plan.

Top steelmaking provinces Hebei and Jiangsu are among the environmentally sensitive regions named in the document.

Steelmakers that plan to build new capacities will have to shut a certain number of existing ones fi rst, according to the statement. Mills that have closed illegal capacities or obtained fi nancial and policy assistance to help shut plants will not be allowed to build new ones. (SD-Agencies)

Stricter rules issued on building new steel capacity

FRENCH fashion label Saint Laurent, part of Kering, will start selling online in China through a JD.com portal, joining shopping players like Alibaba in trying to tap strong luxury goods demand from Chinese consumers.

The French brand created in 1961 by its late founder Yves Saint Laurent, said Monday it was partnering with Toplife, a plat-form launched last October by JD.com which aims to woo luxury buyers with same-day deliveries and premium services.

It rivals Luxury Pavilion, a similar portal launched in August, which is backed by

Alibaba’s Tmall platform and features products from fashion groups such as Burberry.

Chinese shoppers made up 32 percent of the worldwide luxury market in 2017, more than any other nationality, consultancy Bain & Co. said, making it a cru-cial market for fashion brands.

KPMG has projected, mean-while, that half of China’s domes-tic luxury consumption could come from web sales by 2020.

Online shopping has proved a potent earnings driver for fashion brands even if many were initially reluctant to dis-tribute their wares too widely.

Top labels such as Kering’s Gucci or LVMH’s Louis Vuit-ton recently started market-ing directly to Chinese buyers with their own websites in the country.

High-end fashion houses are still wary of alliances with mass-market platforms such as Amazon, fearful they will lose control of their high-end exclusive image.

JD.com and Alibaba’s special-ist luxury platforms have already lured several other brands, touting themselves as more exclusive, selective sites.

(SD-Agencies)

Saint Laurent ventures online in China

Express fi rm deliveries up 28% in 2017Best Inc. employees sort packages on a conveyor belt network at a warehouse in Shanghai in this fi le photo. China’s express delivery fi rms dispatched about 40 billion parcels last year, up 28 percent compared to the previous year, according to the State Post Bureau. The surge in deliveries has raised concerns about pollution. SD-Agencies

AIRBUS is offering China a production role on its A380 superjumbo for the fi rst time in an effort to secure a pro-gram-extending order for the slow-selling double-decker jet, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The European planemaker is in early talks on granting fi nishing and interiors work to the Asian nation if it commits to a signifi cant new order for the model, said the source, who asked not to be named.

New sales are crucial for the A380 after a two-year order drought, though moving some work to China could upset the delicate production balance between the planemaker’s

French and German plants. The planes are now assembled at the company’s headquarters in Tou-louse, France, and subsequently fl own to Hamburg for painting and the fi tting of cabin furnish-ings including toilets and seats.

The sources said that only Chinese-ordered planes would be affected and that no decision has been made at present. Fur-ther discussions may take place this week during an offi cial visit to China by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Financial Times reported earlier on a possible industrial partnership with China on the A380.

Airbus is seeking ways to revive the A380 after last year

failing to secure a new order from Dubai-based Emirates, the superjumbo’s biggest customer. Without a major deal, the mod-el’s future is in doubt, even with the company seeking to eke out work by slowing output to less than a plane a month.

France’s Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said last month after a visit to China that the country had agreed to include the A380 in discussions regard-ing aircraft requirements.

China has so far bought only fi ve A380s, operated by China Southern Airlines Co., which has struggled to fi nd destina-tions suited to the jets, having switched them between a variety of routes. (SD-Agencies)

Airbus offers China production role on A380