September 1, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Saani 22,1423

SHANGHAI, Aug 31: China’s interim reporting season ended on Saturday with about one out of every seven companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses in the red, state newspapers said on Saturday.

There were 170 loss-making firms out of 1,204 companies that reported results for the first six months ending June 30, the official Securities Times newspaper said. One firm had not reported earnings by the August 31 deadline, the paper said.

The percentage of loss makers in the first half has widened from 12.94 per cent, or around one out of eight listed firms, for the full year of 2001, it said.

In the first six months, the weighted average earnings per share fell 19.7 per cent year on year to 0.0822 yuan (0.99 US cents), partly because of a reduction in return on investments and financial subsidies, the paper said.—Reuters