China's business press carried the following stories on Thursday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Vanke housing sales top 63 billion yuan in 2009 -- China Securities Journal

China Vanke Co., Ltd. (stock code: 000002) announced Thursday that its housing sales rose 32.5 percent to 63.42 billion yuan in 2009. The leading Chinese real estate developer sold 6.636 million square meters of floor space in 2009, up 19.1 percent year-on-year.

According to the statement, Vanke's sales in the four quarters of 2009 are 12.22, 18.54, 15.4 and 17.27 billion yuan, respectively.

In December, Vanke sold 405,000 square meters of floor space and achieved business revenue of 5.5 billion yuan, down 38.7 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Industrial Bank net profit up 16.62% in 2009 -- China Securities Journal

Industrial Bank Co., Ltd., a joint stock commercial bank based in Fujian, Thursday posted a net profit of 13.277 billion yuan in 2009, up 16.62 percent year-on-year.

The bank's operating profit jumped by 23.6 percent to 17.268 billion yuan in 2009. Analysts attribute Industrial bank's profit surge to the fast growth of net interest income and intermediate business income.

By the end of September 2009, Industrial Bank's capital adequacy ratio and core capital adequacy ratio stood at 10.63 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.

Listed firms' profit may rise by 25% in 2009 -- China Securities Journal

By January 6, 2010, a total of 633 mainland listed companies had posted their earnings release. More than 60 percent of the companies reported profit. Based on the preliminary calculations of China Securities Journal, domestically-listed firms' profit growth in 2009 may approach 25 percent.

According to Wind Info, among the 633 companies, 253 companies expect profit to increase, 80 companies predict to turn losses into gains, 90 companies see profit dropping and 80 companies forecast losses for the first time.

Of the 253 companies that predict profit growth, 238 of those expect an increase of more than 50 percent. Another 130 companies predict that their profit in 2009 doubled.

PetroChina is world's biggest company by market value -- China Business News

As of the end of 2009, PetroChina Company Limited is the world's largest company by market value, with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) ranked fourth on the list.

Statistics show that by market value at the end of 2009, the world's five biggest listed companies are PetroChina (market value: US$353.174 billion), ExxonMobile (US$323.717 billion), Microsoft (US$270.636 billion), ICBC (US$268.982 billion) and Wal-mart (US$203.654 billion).

As of the end of last year, the world's 10 biggest banks by market value are ICBC, China Construction Bank (US$201.455 billion), HSBC Holdings (US$200.725 billion), JPMorgan Chase (US$171.053 billion), Bank of China (US$153.972 billion), Bank of America (US$149.648 billion), Wells Fargo (US$137.995 billion), Banco Santander Central Hispano (US$136.002 billion), BNP Paribas (US$94.893 billion) and Citigroup (US$93.543 billion).