Toyota sees first sales increase since Jan

Toyota Motor Corp, the world's biggest carmaker, reported a monthly sales increase in China for the first time since January as the carmaker ramped up production in the country. Deliveries in the world's biggest vehicle market climbed 0.4 percent to 79,000 units last month from 78,700 a year earlier, the Japan-based carmaker said on Monday. For the January-to-May period, sales were 8.6 percent short of last year's level. The gain in May deliveries follows Japanese carmakers' production increase in China a month earlier, signaling a consumer backlash is fading following a territorial dispute between Asia's two largest economies in 2012.

Yuan on the up as manufacturing increases

The offshore yuan rose, halting a four-day slide, after an official report showed manufacturing exceeded estimates and as the government indicated an economic slowdown is bottoming out. A Purchasing Managers' Index reading released on Saturday rose to 50.8 in May from 50.6 in April, compared with the median estimate of 50 in a Bloomberg News survey, official data show. President Xi Jinping said expansion is on a "more stable footing", the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

Red light for Bank of Dalian IPO: CSRC

The Bank of Dalian was on the list of enterprises barred from proceeding in their attempted IPO application, according to a just-published list. Information on the list of applicants was released by the Issuing Supervision Department of the China Security Regulatory Commission for the first time on Friday. The annual report of the bank showed that its net profit in 2012 increased by 1.59 percent, much lower than the average for the industry. Most commercial banks that applied for an IPO saw profit growth of 20 percent.

$681 million investment quota approved for QFII

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange approved a $681 million quota for qualified foreign institutional investors in May. At the end of May, 202 foreign institutions had received permission to invest in the mainland share market under the QFII scheme. The quota for foreign investments denominated in yuan, or so-called RQFII, expanded by 15.6 billion yuan ($2.54 billion) in May, compared with a 7.6 billion yuan increase in April.

Google invests in South African solar project

Google has closed its first renewable energy project in the African continent last week, investing $12 million in a solar energy project in South Africa. According to an announcement made on Monday by Photon International, the total investment in the Jasper solar project by the search-engine giant hit $260 million for a 96-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant developed in the Northern Cape. Google gave credit to the supportive polices for renewable energy in the biggest economy in Africa, which had the highest growth rate in clean energy investment last year, its official blog said.

Promising future for Chinese brands: WPP

Chinese companies are looking at a promising future where domestic brands will become famous internationally, according to the chief executive of the world's largest advertising company. In a recent interview with Xinhua, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, said he believes that China's great size offers its domestic business a big advantage, which can be used as a platform to grow their firms into global brands. Sorrell is about to embark on a two-week trip to China in which he will discuss with his top executives the strategy of his firm's $1.5 billion business in the country.

Great Wall Motors resists auto industry slowdown

Great Wall Motors, China's largest sport utility vehicle producer, defied the industry slowdown last year, according to a report from Chinese business publication Caixin. The company sold 620,000 vehicles in 2012, up 28 percent year-on-year, higher the industry average increase of 4.3 percent, Caixin said. Its share price jumped 103 percent on the Shanghai bourse in 2012, marking the largest increase among China's publicly held automakers, according to the magazine.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily USA 06/04/2013 page13)