terça-feira, outubro 14, 2003

 
China's Banks to Trade Gold for Individual Investors (Update1)
2003-10-14 00:48 (New York)

China's Banks to Trade Gold for Individual Investors (Update1)

(Adds comment on gold demand starting in fourth paragraph.)

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- China's four biggest state-owned
banks, which account for about 80 percent of the nation's loans,
are seeking approval to trade gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange
on behalf of individual investors in an effort to boost revenue.
World Gold Council officials in Beijing are helping the banks
prepare to expand the scope of gold trading in China as the
government opens the market to competition, said Yang Qing, the
Beijing-based head of commodities trading at Bank of China. Now,
only domestic banks and producers can trade gold on the exchange.
``This would be a low-risk business growth area for the
commercial banks, and would also benefit individuals by giving
them more investment alternatives,'' Yang said in an interview.
Local Chinese starved of opportunities to invest their 1.23
trillion yuan ($148 billion) in savings may rush to buy and sell
gold through domestic banks. About 90 percent of the 213 tons of
gold consumed each year in China is used to make jewelry. The
remainder is used in dentistry or to make mobile phones, computers
and other electronic goods.
``China's stock market has been bearish for a while, and
banking deposits offer meager interest, so many individual
investors would likely be attracted to gold as a hedge,'' said
Roland Wang, a Beijing-based regional manager of the World Gold
Council.
Bank of China's Yang didn't say when the four state-owned
lenders -- Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial &
Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank -- may
receive approval to handle trades for individual investors.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange said the government will allow
individuals to trade the precious metal this year, the state-run
Antaike Precious & Minor Metals Monthly reported in June.
China started the Shanghai Gold Exchange, its first gold
bourse since 1949, on Oct. 30 last year, ending the government's
five-decade-old monopoly on pricing of the precious metal.

--Xiao Yu and Rob Delaney in Beijing (86)(10) 6505 0834, or
yxiao@bloomberg.net, through the Singapore newsroom. Editor:
T.Jordan.

Story illustration: To graph gold prices over the past year, see
{GC1 GPO D }. For a series of screens related to
gold, click on {CNP 04676240104 }. Press the space bar to
pause on a screen and the GO key to resume the slide show. See
{CTOP } for the day's top commodities stories.

posted by A. Song. 6:47 AM