Hu named to be head of CDB

Hu Huaibang, chairman of Bank of Communications Co, will resign the position and to become chairman of China Development Bank Corp, the world's largest policy lender, Bank of Communications announced on Monday. Hu, 57, has been chairman of the Shanghai-based lender since 2008, and it reported average 20 percent annual profit growth, while its assets almost doubled from December 2008 to 5.27 trillion yuan at the end of 2012. CDB is the biggest lender to local government financing vehicles that have accumulated at least 10.7 trillion yuan in debt. Half of the bank's lending this year will go to urbanization, according to a Jan 29 notice on its website.

Yuan climbs to 19-year high

China's yuan rose to a 19-year high after the central bank set a record fixing against the dollar, before paring gains as the government reported an unexpected slowdown in economic growth. The People's Bank of China raised its daily reference rate by 0.08 percent to 6.2454 per dollar. The yuan is allowed to trade as much as 1 percent either side of the fixing. The yuan gained 0.08 percent to 6.1871 per dollar in Shanghai, prices from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System show.

Rate swap drops to 1-month low

China's one-year interest-rate swaps fell to a one-month low after data showed economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the first quarter. Gross domestic product increased 7.7 percent from a year earlier, slowing from a 7.9 percent expansion in the previous three months, the government reported on Monday. Economists forecast 8 percent growth, based on the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Factory output also moderated, rising 8.9 percent in March following a 9.9 percent gain in the first two months.

Alibaba launches mobile service

Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd launched a mobile phone platform on Taobao on Monday, dedicated to promoting smartphones running on the company's self-developed mobile operating system, the Aliyun OS. Five domestic mobile phone manufacturers, including Konka Group and Amoi Technology, released six smartphone models based on Aliyun OS on the same day, which showed an increasing industry support for Alibaba's mobile operating system.

WTI falls below $90 for first time

Brent crude fell to its lowest level in nine months and West Texas Intermediate dropped below $90 a barrel, as economic growth unexpectedly eased in China, the world's second-largest crude consumer. Brent declined as much as 2.2 percent to its weakest since July 13. The World Bank cut its forecast for the nation's economic growth. Nicolas Maduro was elected president of Venezuela, OPEC's third-biggest oil producer. "This simply confirms the picture of a slowing economy" in China, said Guy Wolf, Global Head of Market Analytics at Marex Spectron Group in London, who predicts Brent may fall as low as $85 this quarter. "Globally, the picture is not healthy."

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 04/16/2013 page14)