MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, April 24

     BEIJING (MNI) - EXCLUSIVE: China's large domestic market, diversified

industrial base and supply of skilled workers will ensure it remains a leading

destination for foreign direct investment, despite calls in some countries for

their manufacturing industries to return onshore, government advisors have told

MNI.

     TOP NEWS: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) partly rolled over a maturing

1-year targeted medium-term lending facility (TMLF) at a reduced rate of 2.95%

from 3.15%, according to a statement on its website. The injection of CNY56.1

billion let to a net-drain of CNY211.3 billion. The cut was first since the

liquidity instrument was created in December 2018. 

     RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository

institutions (DR007) rose to 1.5463% from Thursday's close 1.3869%, Wind

Information showed. The overnight repo average increased to 0.9056% from 0.8875%

on Thursday.

     YUAN: The currency weakened to 7.0829 against the dollar from Thursday's

close of 7.0791. PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate lower at 7.0803,

compared with 7.0887 set on Thursday. 

     BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 2.4825%,

down from Thursday's close of 2.5025, according to Wind Information.

     STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.06% to 2,808.53. Hong Kong's

Hang Seng Index edged down 0.61% to 23,831.33.

     FROM THE PRESS: Foreign capital won't flee China on a large scale despite

western politicians' calls for moving manufacturing chains out of the country,

the Economic Daily said in a commentary. China is the first to contain the

pandemic and will continue to be a stabilising influence and a boost for the

world economic recovery, providing stability for foreign capital, the commentary

said. 

     China should guard against expectations of looser housing regulations, the

Economic Information Daily said in a front page commentary. While the economy is

under great pressure, policymakers shouldn't tolerate rising home prices, the

newspaper said. Any irrational increase in home prices inhibits consumer demand

and widens the income gap, which in turn hinders economic and industrial

transformation, the newspaper added.

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

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