MNI China Press Digest Oct 9: PBOC, A-shares, Capital Market

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Thursday:

• The People’s Bank of China will likely continue to increase its gold holdings at a moderate pace to cope with international uncertainties and support yuan internationalisation, Yicai.com reported citing analysts after its reserves rose for the 11th month by 40,000 ounces to 74.06 million ounces from August to September. Gold accounts for only 7.7% of the country's official international reserve assets, significantly lower than the global average of 15%, the newspaper noted. Meanwhile, increased demand from central banks will support gold's long-term upward trend, with spot gold setting a new high of USD4,040 per ounce Wednesday, the newspaper said citing analysts.
• A-shares can expect to rally in October, supported by the dual easing of global monetary and fiscal policies, and trading opportunities provided by listed companies’ Q3 report disclosures, China Securities Journal reported citing analysts. A-shares have room for catch-up growth after the Oct 1-8 holiday when stock markets of most major economies around the world rose, analysts from Zhongtai Securities said. The balance of margin trading in A-shares remained at a high level in the last two trading days before the holiday, indicating funds remain optimistic about the post-holiday trend, the analysts added.
• Increasing incentives for whistleblowers in the capital market will boost internal supervision and protect investors, noted Securities Daily in a commentary after authorities solicited public opinions on adjustments to reward levels. The reward amount has been increased to 3% of the fines and confiscations from 1%, and the maximum reward for providing clues to major illegal activities has increased to CNY500,000 from CNY100,000. For those cases with significant nationwide impact or involving large amounts of money, the upper limit was raised to CNY1 million.