Stocks lose 2 percent in a week
CHINA S key stock index closed down 0.7 percent Friday as reduced cash flows from a liquidity crunch in the money market and some speculative selling in large-cap auto stocks sent the market to a weekly loss of 2.0 percent.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,835.2 points, with top auto maker SAIC Motor Corp. and another major producer Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. both dropping more than 2 percent after the city of Beijing announced measures to limit new car registrations to tackle congestion.
Unicom offers iPhone without service contract
CHINA Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. started to offer the eight-gigabyte version of Apple Inc. s iPhone 3GS smartphone without a mobile service contract starting Saturday, but it will offer buyers of the device a discounted service plan, China Unicom s parent company said Friday.
China Unicom, which previously sold only iPhone handsets bundled with mobile service contracts, started to sell the 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS with no contract for 3,999 yuan (US$603), said a spokesman for its parent, China United Network Communications Group Co.
China Gas says top executives taken away
CHINA Gas Holdings Ltd., which has 114 gas projects in China, said two of its top executives had been escorted away by people who identified themselves as security officials in Shenzhen and trading in its shares will remain suspended.
The company said in a statement late Friday that managing and executive director Liu Minghui and executive president Huang Yong, were escorted away by certain individuals who claimed that they represented the Shenzhen s public security bureau ... Dec. 17 from the company s office in Shenzhen.
Sinopec s Addax to churn out 3.7% more crude
CRUDE oil output from China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. s (Sinopec) Addax unit will grow 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 7 million tons this year, or 140,000 barrels per day, parent China Petrochemical Corp. said in a report Friday.
Production had increased to 155,000 bpd recently from 136,000 bpd in August last year when Sinopec bought the Swiss-based company for US$7.24 billion in China s biggest overseas acquisition, according to the report published on one of China Petrochemical Corp. s Web sites.
