China Should Launch Yuan Futures Now: Ex-Off'l

China should launch yuan futures trading right away to help regulators to counter attacks on its currency and improve risk prevention amid the further opening of the financial market, wrote Guan Tao, chief economist at BOC International and a former forex regulatory official at a blog post on Yicai.com. The introduction of yuan futures is also a viable measure for small and medium exporters to avoid profit loss amid yuan appreciation and reduce forward contract hedging costs, said Guan. This can greatly expand the scope of participants with different risk appetites in the yuan FX market, said Guan, noting that this round of yuan's surge was pushed by the market's expectation of yuan appreciation.