Mainland's forex reserves dip, gold rises

China's foreign exchange reserves fell 0.58 percent to US$3.219 trillion (HK$25.1 trillion) last month, official data showed yesterday, while the country increased its gold reserves for a 15th consecutive month.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange said the decline was due to macroeconomic factors such as a stronger US dollar among others.

Meanwhile, China held 72.19 million fine troy ounces of gold at the end of January, up from 71.87 million ounces at the end of December.

In China's property sector, the projects of Chinese property developer Kaisa (1638) have reportedly been listed by local governments as suitable for loans, according to the Chinese online media outlet The Paper, adding to the number of developers supported by authorities.

Kaisa's projects in Chengdu and Chongqing have been included in the "whitelists," the report said, adding its projects in Shenzhen and Guangzhou are expected to enter the lists after the Lunar New Year.

Under a so-called "whitelists" mechanism, residential projects on the lists could receive more financing support as local governments will gear up to recommend such projects to banks.

This came as Morgan Stanley cut target prices for mainland real estate developers by 30 percent due to prolonged weakness in sales and pressure on margins.

The investment bank lowered Country Garden's (2007) price by 25 percent to HK$0.55 while slashing prices for China Vanke (2202) by 30 percent to HK$6.25.

Meanwhile, Country Garden saw its contracted sales last month tumble by 75 percent to 5.49 billion yuan (HK$6.04 billion) from a year ago.