The Zhitong Finance App learned that Bank of China International released a research report stating that it raised China Petroleum & Chemical (00386)'s profit forecast for this year and next two years by 1% to 2%, and reaffirmed the “buy” investment rating, while the target price was slightly lowered to HK$5.02.

The bank pointed out that Sinopec's net profit in accordance with IFRS fell 13% year on year to 58.3 billion yuan last year, lower than the bank's forecast of 4%, mainly due to other taxes and impairment exceeding expectations. The bank predicts that Sinopec's earnings per share will rise 14% this year, supported by improvements in refining gross profit with more stable oil prices and narrowing losses in the chemical business.