MNI China Press Digest Aug 28: Ind. Profits, Tax, New Momentum

MNI (BEIJING) - Highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• China's industrial enterprises saw their operating income grow by 0.9% y/y, while their total profits decreased by 1.5% y/y, narrowing for the second month by 2.8 percentage points from June, Shanghai Securities News reported citing data by the National Bureau of Statistics. A 6.8% growth in profits made by manufacturing companies, which accelerated 5.4 pp from June, helped to drive the headline number by 3.6 pp. The profit recovery is expected to continue on government efforts to stabilise the economy and curb price wars as well as fading disturbances caused by extreme weather, the newspaper said citing analysts.
• China’s stamp duty on securities transactions is likely to maintain strong growth on the back of rising trading volumes, Securities Daily reported citing analysts. Revenue jumped 125% y/y to CNY15.1 billion in July, Ministry of Finance data showed. Since the rate was halved on Aug 28, 2023, investors have saved more than CNY250 billion in total, the newspaper said.
• China’s new momentum index for economic development was 136 in 2024, an increase of 14.2% over the previous year, Securities Daily reported citing data by National Bureau of Statistics. The total expenditure on research and development in the whole society reached CNY3.6 trillion, up 8.3%. The number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people reached 14, an increase of 2.2 over 2023.