CBN丨The southbound Bond Connect to open next Friday; Rise of home prices slowed in August

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

大家好，我是主持人李莹亮。

Coming up on today’s program.

重点提要 

• China gives the nod for investors to buy offshore debt via Hong Kong;

• Home prices rise slowed in August as tighter credit policies reduce deals;

• Shares in Macao’s casinos plummeted due to tightened regulations.

Greater Bay Area, Greater Future

新使命，大未来

Two weeks after the grand opening of the Wealth Management Connect in the Greater Bay Area, mainland China’s investors will soon be able to buy and sell offshore debt through Hong Kong in a widening of the Bond Connect trans-border investment channel, a step sure to attract more capital to the Asian financial hub.

China is to launch the southbound Bond Connect on September 24, said an announcement jointly released Wednesday by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city’s de facto central bank.

“The launch of southbound trading of Bond Connect marks another milestone of mutual access between Hong Kong and mainland.”Eddie Yue Wai-man, CEO of the HKMA, said in a media briefing.

The much-anticipated opening, hot on the heels of the September 10 launch of the Wealth Management Connect scheme for cross-border investments in asset management and wealth products in the Greater Bay Area, is the latest financial liberalisation measure to bolster Hong Kong’s role as China’s financial gateway to the world. 

The current iteration widens the scope of the Connect scheme, which provided the first cross-border investment channels in 2014 between the capital markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen with the rest of the world via Hong Kong.

The annual quota for southbound tradings is set at 500 billion yuan with a daily quota of 20 billion yuan, said the PBOC, which vowed to revise quotas in line with cross-border fund flows.

The southbound leg came after the launch of the northbound trading in July 2017. Overseas investors under the northbound leg hold about 1.1 trillion-yuan worth of bonds, with accumulative transactions over the past four years hitting 12.3 trillion yuan, the central bank revealed.

上线在即！“南向通”将在粤港澳大湾区“跨境理财通”落地两周后面世，总额度为5000亿。

中国人民银行、香港金融管理局9月15日联合公告称，“南向通”将于2021年9月24日上线。所谓“南向通”，是指境内投资者经由内地与香港相关基础服务机构在债券交易、托管、结算等方面互联互通的机制安排，投资香港债券市场交易流通的债券。

央行表示，适时开通“南向通”，一是有利于完善我国债券市场双向开放的制度安排，进一步拓展了国内投资者在国际金融市场配置资产的空间；二是有利于巩固香港联接内地与世界市场的桥头堡与枢纽地位，助力香港融入国家发展大局，维护香港的长期繁荣稳定。香港金管局总裁余伟文表示，债券通“南向通”的推出，是香港与内地资本市场互联互通的新里程碑。

额度方面，“南向通”跨境资金净流出额上限不超过年度总额度和每日额度。目前，“南向通”年度总额度为5000亿元等值人民币，每日额度为200亿元等值人民币。中国人民银行根据跨境资金流动形势，对“南向通”年度总额度和每日额度进行调整。

“债券通”于2017年7月推出，是内地债市开放的重要里程碑，当年7月3日，“北向通”正式落地运行。央行数据显示，“北向通”开通前，境外投资者持有我国债券约为8500亿元人民币。截至目前，这一规模已经达到3.8万亿元人民币，年均增速超过40%。其中，“北向通”的境外投资者持债规模约1.1万亿元人民币，四年来累计成交量为12.3万亿元人民币。全球前100大资产管理机构中，已有78家参与进来。

Update on COVID-19

疫情简报

The Chinese mainland reported 49 new local cases yesterday, 48 from Fujian province and 1 from Yunnan province.

全国昨日新增49例本土确诊病例（福建48例，其中莆田市38例、厦门市8例、泉州市2例；云南1例）。

Next on industry and company news

产经消息及公司新闻

China's home prices increased in August but at a slower pace as regulatory measures continue to rein in and stabilize the disorderly market. Home prices in 70 major cities either grew marginally or edged down, suggesting the long-term nature of tightening rules continues to have the desired effect at local levels.

昨日，国家统计局公布2021年8月70个大中城市商品住宅销售价格变动情况，整体来看，8月份，各地持续加强房地产市场调控，70个大中城市商品住宅销售价格环比、同比涨幅总体延续回落态势。专家认为，随着信贷政策的回归正常，未来房价涨幅有望放缓，下调城市数量将不断增加，反映楼市调控新政有效。

China issued a guideline on developing a more civilized and well-regulated cyberspace environment. Online platform operators and the industry will effectively fulfill their duties of self-discipline while cyberspace will be governed under the law, which will crack down on and prevent online crimes, said the guideline. 

近日，中共中央办公厅、国务院办公厅印发了《关于加强网络文明建设的意见》。《意见》指出，要加强网络空间文化培育、道德建设、行为规范、生态治理及文明创建，以加强网络文明建设。

Food delivery giants Meituan and Ele.me said they will not force couriers to register as individual businesses amid a social media storm. These two biggest takeout apps denied allegations that they have been asking riders to hold personally liable for debts and obligations, so that platforms can avoid paying insurance for them. 

近日，外卖平台用工问题再受关注。有媒体报道称，外卖平台强制性要求所有骑手注册个体工商户，从而规避用工主体责任。美团和饿了么相继发声，表示将严禁诱导和强迫骑手注册成个体工商户。

Shares in Fulin Precision Machining surged 13.68 percent to a record high yesterday after the Chinese auto parts maker said it will purchase 31.7 percent equity in lithium carbonate producer Qinghai HXR Lithium Tech. It slightly fell 1.16 percent today.

昨日，磷酸铁锂正极材料企业富临精工股价大涨13.68%，创历史新高。此前，公司宣布将收购恒信融31.7%股权。今日，富临精工A股回吐1.16%，收报52.97元。

Shares in Macao’s biggest casinos continued to tumble today after falling around 30 percent and wiping out $14 billion in combined market value on Wednesday, as the Macao government said it will increase supervision of operators in the world’s biggest gambling sanctuary. Today, Wynn Macao and Sands China continued to drop 4.69 percent and 7.96 percent respectively.  

继澳门多家博彩公司的港股股价周三大跌多达30%，市值蒸发140亿美元，今日，永利澳门继续下跌4.69%，金沙中国下跌7.96%。澳门政府从周三开始展开为期45天的“博彩法”公开咨询，以便对明年6家赌场牌照到期后如何重新发放的问题征求公众的意见。

Switching gears to the financial sector

金融市场要闻

China’s basic pension insurance funds entrusted for investment achieved an annual return of 10.95 percent last year, the highest since 2016, according to data released Tuesday by the National Council for Social Security Fund. 

周二，全国社会保障基金理事会公布了2020年基本养老保险基金受托运营年度报告。2020年，基本养老保险基金权益投资收益额为1135.77亿元，投资收益率10.95%，为2016年以来最高。

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

最后来看股市收盘情况

Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 1.34 percent, at 3607 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.91 percent lower at 14258 points. The Hang Seng Index closed 1.46 percent lower to stand at 24667 points. 

周四A股股市集体收跌，截至收盘，沪指跌1.34%，报收3607点；深成指跌1.91%，报收14258点。港股恒生指数收跌1.46%，报收24667点。

• Biz Word of the Day

  财经词汇划重点

• Bond Connect is a new mutual market access scheme that allows investors from Mainland China and overseas to trade in each other’s bond markets through connection between the related Mainland and Hong Kong financial infrastructure institutions.

  债券通为开展内地与香港债券市场互联互通合作的计划，让中国内地与境外投资者透过在香港建立的基础设施联接，在对方市场买卖债券。 

（欢迎大家提供意见和反馈，请联系主播李莹亮：liyl@21jingji.com）

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI, ZHANG Ran, TIAN Chang

Producer: XIANG Xiufang

Sound Editor: ZHANG Ran, Andy YUAN

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Wanni

Co-produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News & SFC Audio/Video Dept.

Presented by SFC

编委:  于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞 

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮、张然、田畅

监制：向秀芳 

音频制作：张然、袁思杰 

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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（作者：李莹亮,实习记者张然 编辑：李艳霞）

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