• The U.K.'s exit from the European Union (EU) will present new opportunities for free trade with the world's second-largest economy, a former Chinese banker said Saturday.
"Brexit will pave a new path for free trade between China and the U.K.," Li Ruogu, former chairman of the Export-Import Bank of China, said at the Boao Forum held in the Hainan province of China.
Despite fears about rising protectionism and anti-free trade forces in the current global environment, Li said the U.K. may already be a more open market than the EU. He cited inefficiencies in EU agricultural policies and its disputes with China regarding the steel trade as examples of protectionism in the EU.
• Profits of Chinese industrial firms surged 31.5 percent in the first two months of 2017 from a year earlier as prices of commodities from coal to iron ore raced higher, while strong imports also pointed to a pick-up in activity.
Stronger earnings could give a further boost to fixed-asset investment, which quickened early in the year, and give China's "smokestack" industries more cash flow to start whittling away at a mountain of debt -- a key government priority this year.
Total industrial profits over the first two months of the year were 1.01 trillion yuan ($147 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on Monday.
• French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen sought on Sunday to reassure voters concerned over her plans to withdraw the country from the euro zone, saying it "wouldn't be chaos" and she would seek "well-prepared" talks with other European Union countries.
Opinion polls show the anti-EU, anti-immigrant National Front (FN) leader qualifying for the April 23 first round of the presidential election but losing the May 7 run-off to centrist Emmanuel Macron.
• Oil prices fell on Monday, pulled down by rising U.S. drilling activity and by doubts whether an OPEC-led production cut initially due to end in mid-2017 would be extended.
Benchmark Brent crude futures fell by 33 cents, or 0.65 percent, from their last close to $50.47 per barrel by 0653 GMT.
In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 41 cents, or 0.85 percent, at $47.56 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters,CNBC
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