MNI China Press Digest August 25: Stocks, NDRC, Investment

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

• The A-share market is expected to move towards a more sustainable "slow bull" pattern amid industrial upgrading, emerging technological breakthroughs, improved capital market systems and further retail participation against the backdrop of declining risk-free rates, China Fund News reported citing analysts. In the short term, with the indexes breaking through key resistance levels, the performance of the capital market has clearly outpaced the fundamentals, and investors need to be wary of fluctuations caused by trading congestion and uncertainty in the effectiveness of policy implementation, analysts said.
• The National Development and Reform Commission will expedite the establishment of new policy-based financial instruments to fund emerging industries and infrastructure projects, with local governments actively preparing projects, Shanghai Securities News reported. It is estimated that the scale of the new tool will be CNY500 billion, which can leverage CNY1.5-2.5 trillion in infrastructure investment and help lift its growth rate to 6.0% this year from the 3.2% in the first seven months, the newspaper said citing an unnamed expert.
• Local governments are extending the duration of their guidance funds to more than 15 years to support technology innovation firms better, China Securities Journal reported. Anhui province said well-performing mother funds may be extended to 20 years with approval, while Shanxi capped mother funds at 20 years and sub-funds at 15. The moves follow a State Council statement earlier this year urging local authorities to raise their risk tolerance in start-up investment by boosting government investment ratios, easing duration limits and lengthening performance evaluation cycles, the paper said.