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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (44065)	3/18/2007 12:49:25 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Respond to of 69925

March 18, 2007 China’s Central Bank Raises Rate By KEITH BRADSHER HONG KONG, March 17 — China’s central bank announced Saturday that it was raising interest rates to control a surge in bank lending and investment and to prevent consumer prices from rising. But higher rates could further widen China’s politically sensitive trade surpluses with the United States and Europe. Statistics released in the last week indicated that the Chinese economy had rebounded from a brief period of slower growth last fall and is now charging along at a pace so brisk that it might rekindle inflation. The country’s overall trade surplus with all other countries more than tripled in January and February, compared with the first two months of last year. Industrial production shot up 18.5 percent and investment in new buildings and other fixed assets leaped 23.4 percent in that period. Banks went on a lending spree in February, despite closing for a week for Chinese New Year. The People’s Bank of China announced Saturday afternoon that, effective Sunday, it was raising by 0.27 percent the regulated interest rates that banks may charge for loans and may pay for deposits. The benchmark rate for one-year loans to companies with reasonably good credit will become 6.39 percent, while the one-year deposit rate will become 2.79 percent. Higher interest rates could widen China’s trade surplus, economists said, as its exports keep rising but its demand for imports may slacken somewhat. Higher interest rates tend to brake investment spending on costly industrial equipment.