Sept 12 (Reuters) - Chinese newspapers available in Beijing and Shanghai carried the following stories on Friday. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL

- The combined daily transaction volume at the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges increased to 431.4 billion yuan ($70.38 billion) on Thursday, the highest level in nearly four years, on the back of a running rally.

SHANGHAI SECURITIES NEWS

- CNOOC Ltd is trying to offload its 50 percent stake in AEGON-CNOOC Life Insurance Co Ltd for auction to potential buyer Tsinghua Tongfang Co Ltd. AEGON-CNOOC posted a net loss of 92.5 million yuan ($15.09 million) in 2013.

CHINA DAILY

- President Xi Jinping said China and Russia should begin early work on a natural gas pipeline project and increase bilateral energy cooperation when he met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Thursday.

- More than 100 internet companies in Beijing signed a pledge to identify and prevent the transmission of illegal and improper information online.

SHANGHAI DAILY

- China's bank-card consumer confidence index hit the lowest level since the beginning of 2013 in August amid the country's sluggish macro-economic situation, China UnionPay Co said in a report on Thursday.

PEOPLE'S DAILY

- President Xi Jinping proposed to build an economic corridor linking China, Mongolia and Russia during a meeting of the three heads of state on the sidelines of the 14th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Thursday.

For Hong Kong and South China newspapers see.....

($1 = 6.1295 Chinese yuan) (Compiled by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Anand Basu)