CHINA MARKETS: Yuan Weaker; Rates Mixed; Stocks Rise

     BEIJING (MNI) - The yuan fell slightly against the U.S. dollar Wednesday

morning even though the People's Bank of China set a stronger daily fixing. 

     The yuan was last at 6.6282 against the U.S. unit, compared with the

official closing price of 6.6272 on Tuesday. 

     The PBOC set the yuan central parity rate against the U.S. dollar at 6.6300

on Wednesday, much stronger than Tuesday's 6.6397. It was the largest daily rise

in the fixing since Oct. 11.

     Money market rates were mixed Wednesday morning after the PBOC injected

CNY240 billion in liquidity via open-market operations. The seven-day repo

average was last at 2.8489% Wednesday, higher than Tuesday's average of 2.8344%.

The overnight repo average was at 2.7187%, much lower than Tuesday's 2.8460%.

     The yield on benchmark 10-year China government bonds was last at 3.8750%,

down from the previous close of 3.8800%, according to Wind, a financial data

provider. 

     Stocks were up, led higher by the storage and electronics sectors. The

benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was last up 0.12% at 3,397.40. Hong Kong's

Hang Seng Index was 0.52% higher at 28,393.51. 

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: vince.morkri@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,M$$FI$,MN$FI$,MN$FX$]