MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, December 6

EXCLUSIVE: The China-led cross-border central bank digital currency payment platform mBridge is likely to add more participants from Asia and emerging-market central banks, insiders and advisors in China told MNI, as the U.S. signalled fierce opposition to any attempt by BRICS nations to bypass the dollar.

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted CNY190.9 billion via 7-day reverse repos, with the rate unchanged at 1.50%. The operation led to a net drain of CNY288.1 billion after offsetting the maturity of CNY479 billion today, according to Wind Information.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) fell to 1.6626% from 1.7179% on Thursday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average increased to 1.4934% from 1.4878%.

YUAN: The currency strengthened to 7.2582 against the dollar from 7.2610 on Thursday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate lower at 7.1848, compared with 7.1879 set on Thursday. The fixing was estimated at 7.2513 by Bloomberg survey today.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 1.8950%, up from Thursday's close of 1.8900%, according to chinamoney.com.cn.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 1.05% to 3,404.08, while the CSI300 index was rose 1.31% to 3,973.14. The Hang Seng Index increased 1.56% to 19,865.85.

FROM THE PRESS: China’s average freight index for exports to the U.S. east and west coast reached 1179.5 and 1213.0 points in November, typically the start of the off-season, down 4.2% and up 1.2% from the previous month, 21st Century Business Herald has reported, citing Shanghai Shipping Exchange data. The news outlet noted the data indicated this year’s seasonal decline was relatively narrow. Bai Ming, a member of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, said some firms are frontloading trade ahead of anticipated tariff disruption.

China must accelerate reforms and strengthen policy coordination to reduce the financial burden on enterprises and stimulate vitality, said Economic Daily in a commentary piece. Some companies still face significant operating pressure given weak demand, fierce competition, high costs of water, electricity, gas, land and labour, as well as ad-hoc inspections and fines. SMEs are also suffering from arrears in their accounts payable, the newspaper said.

The People’s Bank of China has extended its share buyback and shareholding facility's relending maturity to three years from one year, Economic Information Daily reported, citing industry insiders. The maximum financing ratio was raised to 90% from 70%, the newspaper said. Since 2024, more than 2,000 listed companies have completed share buybacks, totalling over CNY150 billion, a historical high, the daily said.