MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, December 27
LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted CNY107.8 billion via 7-day reverse repos, with the rate unchanged at 1.50%. The operation led to a net injection of CNY6.2 billion after offsetting the maturity of CNY101.6 billion today, according to Wind Information.
RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) rose to 1.8027% from 1.5971% on Thursday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average decreased to 1.3847% from 1.3865%.
YUAN: The currency weakened to 7.2992 against the dollar from 7.2989 on Thursday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate lower at 7.1893, compared with 7.1897 set on Thursday. The fixing was estimated at 7.2990 by Bloomberg survey today.
BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 1.6875%, down from Thursday's close of 1.7246%, according to chinamoney.com.cn.
STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.06% to 3,400.14, while the CSI300 index lost 0.16% to 3,981.03. The Hang Seng Index was down 0.04% at 20,090.46.
FROM THE PRESS: China has allowed local governments to invest in more areas with special bonds and expanded their use as project capital, Securities Daily reported citing a State Council document. Special bonds can be invested in projects as long as they’re not on the "negative list" published by the cabinet, the paper said. Meanwhile, the bonds can now be used as project capital for infrastructures for emerging industries such as information technology, new materials, and biomanufacturing. The cap for using it as project capital will be increased to 30% from 25% of the total bond quota allocated for project construction in each province, the document said.
Major cities are expected to relax home purchase limits further in 2025, and there is still room for lower mortgage interest rates and transaction taxes, 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing Huang Yu, vice president of China Index Academy. More cities are likely to increase home purchase subsidies to help boost sales, said Huang. Local authorities may be given greater autonomy to buy up unsold homes for affordable housings, while quickening the renovation of urban villages, Huang added.
China should prioritise stabilising employment by promoting economic recovery and increasing support for private and small enterprises to create more job opportunities, the Economic Daily said in a commentary. The unemployment rate of the urban labor force aged 16-24, excluding students, fell for the third month by 1% to 16.1% in November, marking the lowest level since July. However, the number of college graduates is expected to reach 12.22 million in 2025, the newspaper said, urging authorities to give top priority to youth employment.