Number of business entities expands

The total number of business entities in China reached 188 million by the end of September, marking a 3.9 percent year-on-year rise, the State Administration for Market Regulation said on Friday. Of this, 60.2 million were companies, while over 125 million were self-employed businesses, up by 6.1 percent and 3 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Renminbi strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 226 pips to 7.1433 against the US dollar on Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.