GOVT AND POLICIES

Banks encouraged to support small firms

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday it will guide banks to further expand the coverage of financial services and increase loans issued to micro and small enterprises. To strongly support small business financing, the regulator will guide banks to keep their lending rates at a reasonable level, regulate banking service charges, and help lower the rate of financing guarantee fees. It will also urge banks to reduce reliance on collateral and increase the proportion of credit loans among total loans by improving their risk management capabilities.

China leads East Asian bond market, says ADB

China remained emerging East Asia's largest bond market at $11.5 trillion, accounting for 75.4 percent of emerging East Asia's outstanding bonds, according to Asian Development Bank's (ADB) report. The latest issue of the ADB's Asia Bond Monitor said total bonds outstanding in emerging East Asia's local currency bond market reached $15.2 trillion at the end of September, a growth of 3.1 percent quarter-on-quarter and 13 percent year-on-year. "China remained the region's leader in terms of bond market size with its share of the regional total rising to 75.4 percent," the report said.

Guideline to boost intelligent shipping

Chinese authorities on Tuesday unveiled a guideline to further develop intelligent shipping as a new business model. The guideline, jointly released by seven government agencies including the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission, stressed importance of the deep integration of high technologies with the shipping industry. By 2025, China aims to become a global shipping development and innovation center based on breakthroughs made in several key technologies, said the guideline. By 2035, the shipping industry will see new business models featuring sufficient intelligence and a high-quality intelligent shipping system will be built by 2050.

Esports sector on fast track to development

China has become the world's most influential esports market with the greatest potential amid policy support, reported Economic Daily. In the first half of this year, China's esports sector saw its sales revenue reach 51.32 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), said the report. The country has over 5,000 operating esports teams and an esports market size valued at more than 100 billion yuan, according to the report. After years of development, China's esports industry has formed a complete industrial chain from game licensing to content production and dissemination, driving all-around development involving related industries such as contest operation, educational training and proprietary equipment research, the report said.

COMPANIES AND MARKETS

JD set to integrate 5G apps at logistics units

JD is seeking to integrate 5G applications at its logistics centers nationwide, said Wang Zhenhui, CEO of JD Logistics, an integrated supply chain management solutions provider under the Chinese e-commerce giant. Wang made the remarks on Tuesday at JD Discovery 2019, a key tech event held annually in Beijing. With an agreement on 5G-enabled development inked last week with China Telecom, JD has achieved strategic partnerships with all three major mobile operators in the country, he noted. According to Wang, JD Logistics has been exploring more than 10 application scenarios at its Beijing Asia No 1 5G logistics center, the company's first in the country which went into operation this month.

Audi launches two new energy SUVs

Sino-German auto joint venture FAW-Volkswagen has rolled out two Audi new energy sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in China. The new models include the e-tron and the China-produced Q2L e-tron, according to the company. The e-tron is a high-end electric SUV, while the Q2L e-tron is an entry-level luxury electric SUV specially developed for the Chinese market, said Marco Schubert, president of FAW-Volkswagen Audi Sales Division. Audi plans to launch 30 models of new energy vehicles worldwide by 2025, he said.

Merck sees 8.1% rise in quarterly net sales

Net sales from German science and technology company Merck KGaA amounted to 4.05 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, marking an increase of 8.1 percent compared to the same period last year, the company announced on Thursday. Net income of the company increased by 0.8 percent to 343 million euros between July and September. "In the third quarter, we continued to resolutely implement our strategy," said Stefan Oschmann, chief executive officer of Merck, adding that the German company had "substantially increased" sales and earnings because of a "strong performance" of its Healthcare and Life Science as well as all regions.

AROUND THE WORLD

Crude oil inventories up in US last week

The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a build of 5.954 million barrels of crude oil in the US crude oil inventories for the week ending Nov 15. API reported a drop of 500,000 barrels of crude oil inventories for the previous week ending Nov 8, and the US Energy Information Administration reported an increase of 2.2 million barrels.

S. Korea PPI falls on lower pork prices

Price for goods and services among South Korean suppliers marked the first fall in three months due mainly to lower pork price, central bank data showed on Wednesday. The producer price index dipped 0.2 percent in October from a month earlier, after rising 0.1 percent in August and 0.2 percent in September each, according to the Bank of Korea. The decline came as the price for agricultural, livestock and fishery products tumbled 4.7 percent on cheaper pork, caused by a supply increase and a weak demand. Price for industrial products fell 0.1 percent in the month as prices for chemical products, as well as electronic and optical devices continued a downward trend for the second straight month.

Inflation in Germany drops in October

Germany's inflation slowed to 1.1 percent in October, final data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed. According to Destatis, the increase in consumer prices weakened again after sitting at 1.2 percent in September and 1.4 percent in August. The costs for energy products in Germany fell by 2.1 percent compared to last year, an intensified decline, Destatis noted. The price trend for petroleum products also had a dampening effect on the inflation rate. The prices for light heating oil fell considerably by 15.8 percent and dropped by 7.5 percent for fuels, according to Destatis.