MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, March 29

EXCLUSIVE: A stable and marginally stronger yuan will benefit China’s imports and boost the value of the nation’s financial assets this year, a prominent trade advisor told MNI in an interview.

LIQUIDITY: The PBOC conducted CNY150 billion via 7-day reverse repo, with the rates unchanged at 1.80%. The operation has led to a net injection of CNY148 billion after offsetting CNY2 billion maturity today, according to Wind Information.

RATES: China's seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) increased to 2.0124% from 1.9845%, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average decreased to 1.7093% from 1.7186%.

YUAN: The currency strengthened to 7.2232 against the dollar from 7.2256 on Thursday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 7.0950, compared with 7.0946 set on Thursday.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 2.3800%, down from 2.4025% at Thursday's close, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 1.01% to 3,041.17 while the CSI300 index rose 0.47% to 3,537.48. The Hang Seng Index was up 0.91% to 16,541.42.

FROM THE PRESS: The People’s Bank of China has an ample tool box to achieve its goal of stabilising the Yuan, said Ming Ming, chief economist of CITIC Securities, after the Yuan entered a wider two-way fluctuation range following other central bank movements. Since January, inflows into the financial account from investment in stock and bond securities have provided certain support for the yuan, Ming added. Li Liuyang, chief analyst of foreign exchange research at CICC noted changes in the central parity rate set by the PBOC will be an important signal. In the past week, the onshore yuan fell briefly below the 7.23 mark against the U.S. dollar and rebounded to as high as 7.19, fluctuating over 350 points. (Source: Shanghai Securities News)

The issuance of local government special bonds in Q1 is lower than previous years but should accelerate in April and May, said Huang Weiping, analyst at China Industrial Securities. Local bond sales were squeezed out by the additional issuance of CNY1 trillion special treasury bonds in Q4 last year. Yuan Haixia, executive director of China Chengxin International said it was necessary to open a “green channel” for special bond projects to help start work quicker. (Source: Shanghai Securities News)

China will no longer impose anti-dumping duties on imported wines from Australia, given changes in China’s wine market conditions, 21st Century Business Herald reported citing a notice from the Ministry of Commerce. China and Australia are important trading partners, and the government was willing to work with Australia to promote bi-lateral relations, He Yadong, spokesperson for MOFCOM noted at a press conference yesterday. Hong Kong recently imported large quantities of Australian wine with firms planning to export quickly to the mainland once restrictions were lifted, the newspaper noted.