RPT-China upholds death penalty for corrupt stock trader

(Repeats to fix typo in first paragraph)

BEIJING, July 27 (Reuters) - A Chinese court upheld the death sentence of a former securities trader charged with embezzling 97.56 million yuan ($14.31 million), the Legal Daily reported on Sunday.

Yang Yanming was sentenced to death in late 2005, and has kept silent on the whereabouts of 60 million yuan of the misappropriated funds, the paper said.

He was the general manager of the Beijing securities trading department of the China Great Wall Trust and Investment Corp., which became Galaxy Securities, from 1997 to 2003.

Conscious that the growing gap between rich and poor could generate resentment, China is battling corruption and stock trading abuses. It has used the death penalty as a deterrent in some cases. ($1 = 6.818 yuan) (Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by David Fogarty)