Editorial Summary

China's State Administration of Taxation (SAT) is expected to launch a new resource tax regulation in 2008, reports Xinhuanet.com quoting Yang Suizhou, vice director of the SAT's local tax department at a news briefing. According to the report, the SAT is finalizing details of the resource tax after consulting the State Council. The resource tax will be be assessed according to price instead of volume, and will be levied on more types of resources, including scarce resources, said the report quoting an unnamed industry expert.

Shares of China's largest coal mining company China Shenhua Energy (601088.SH; 1088.HK) fell 1.24 percent to close at RMB70.12, while shares of Yunnan Copper (000878.SZ) and Jiangxi Copper (600362.SH) were down 3.17 percent and 2.88 percent to close at RMB65.01 and RMB59.02, respectively, on Friday on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.