Banks Downgrade PICC Shares.

(From SinoCast China Financial Watch)

HONG KONG, January 25, SinoCast -- Macquarie and Morgan Stanley cut the rating on PICC Property & Casualty (2328.HK), the Chinese non-life insurance market leader, following the stock's unusual price movement. Sydney-based Macquarie said it was lowering PICC to "underperform" from "neutral", as the stock has been trading at 1.5 times its forward book value for 2006. It set the price target at HKD 2.33 per share. The insurance company has recovered as much as 30 percent in the past month, Macquarie pointed out last Monday. It sold first-time shares at HKD 1.8 apiece at the main board in late 2003. They are now traded around HKD …