(Yicai Global) Aug. 19 Below is a roundup of Yicai Global's top financial, business and markets news on China last week. 

On Aug. 14, the interest rates of two-year and 10-year US Treasury bonds inverted for the first time since 2007. That of 10-year bonds fell 8 basis points to 1.62 percent, while the yield of two-year ones dropped 3 basis points to 1.63 percent.

Japan overtook China to become the largest foreign creditor for the US in June. Japan bought another USD21.9 billion worth of US Treasurys over the month, and China purchased another USD2.3 billion, according to data from the US Department of the Treasury.

Some 57 mainland-listed Chinese firms had qualified foreign institutional investors among their top 10 biggest shareholders, with stakes worth CNY18.3 billion (USD2.6 billion), according to data compiled from earnings reports released by Aug. 16.

 China's main securities regulator suspects Kangmei Pharmaceutical, one of the country's biggest listed drugmakers, of inflating its revenues, capital and fixed assets from 2016 to 2018, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced on Aug. 16. Some 22 people involved have received administrative penalties and six of them are now banned from the securities market.

China's fiscal revenue was CNY12.6 trillion (USD1.8 trillion) from January to July, up 3.1 percent from the previous year, the Ministry of Finance released on Aug. 16. Fiscal spending rose 9.9 percent to CNY13.8 trillion.

The People's Bank of China will enhance the mechanism used to form the loan prime rate and release the new rate on Aug. 20, the central bank announced on Aug. 17. The number of banks that can submit LPR quotations will be expanded from 10 to 18. Five-year -- and even longer -- tenors will be added to the current one-year LPRs as the PBOC strives to support a slowing economy.

Brokerages trading on China's mainland markets have had an increasingly profitable first six months of the year, as 119 firms achieved gains, up by 12 percent from the previous year. Some 131 companies made a total of CNY178.9 billion in revenues, rising 41 percent.

Chinese mainland markets' three major stock indexes ended the week higher. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index rose 1.8 percent to 2,823.82 points. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange Composite Index jumped 3 percent to 9,060.92 points. The ChiNext Price Index climbed 4 percent to 1,567.99 points.

Editor: Emmi Laine