Briefly

Home appliance sector grows steadily in 2019

Home appliance industry grew steadily last year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed. Total revenue of home appliance companies hit 1.6 trillion yuan ($226 billion) during the period, up 4.3 percent year-on-year, according to the MIIT. The sector's profit surged 10.9 percent year-on-year to reach 133.87 billion yuan in 2019, the MIIT data showed.

CATL forecasts profit decline in first quarter

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), China's largest automotive lithium-ion battery maker, forecast a 20 percent to 30 percent year-on-year decline in net profit for the first quarter of 2020 as the COVID-19 epidemic hit the new energy vehicle market. In a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, CATL said net profit for the January-March period was estimated between 733 million yuan ($104 million) and 838 million yuan, compared to 1.05 billion yuan in the same period a year ago.

South Korea's money supply keeps soaring

South Korea's money supply kept increasing in February amid a record-low interest rate, central bank data in the country showed on Friday. The M2, or broad money indicator, advanced 8.2 percent in February from a year earlier, after growing 7.8 percent in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.

Xinhua