MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, October 25

POLICY: China’s National People’s Congress will hold its next NPC Standing Committee meeting in Beijing from November 4 to 8, Xinhua News reported on Friday.

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted CNY292.6 billion via 7-day reverse repos, with the rate unchanged at 1.50%. The operation led to a net injection of CNY184.2 billion after offsetting the maturity of CNY108.4 billion today. PBOC also conducted another CNY700 billion via 1Y MLF with rate unchanged at 2.00%, draining CNY89 billion after hedging CNY789 billion matured earlier this month, according to Wind Information.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) rose to 1.7353% from 1.6363% on Thursday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average decreased to 1.5126% from 1.5436%.

YUAN: The currency weakened to 7.1219 against the dollar from 7.1133 on Thursday. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the dollar-yuan central parity rate lower at 7.1090, compared with 7.1286 set on Thursday. The fixing was estimated at 7.1102 by Bloomberg survey today.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 2.1470%, down from Thursday's close of 2.1475%, according to chinamoney.com.cn.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.59% to 3,299.70, while the CSI300 index rose 0.70% to 3,956.42. The Hang Seng Index increased 0.49% at 20,590.15.

FROM THE PRESS: The National Development and Reform Commission will support private firms to lead major national scientific and technological research tasks, and access more research infrastructure, CCTV News reported, citing NDRC officials. The government aims to support diversified research and guide qualified private enterprises to carry out high-risk and high-value tech development, the NDRC said.

China’s postal and express delivery industry handled 1.9 billion packages between October 21 and 23, up 48.7% y/y, as Taobao and Tmall conducted the first round of Double 11 shopping festival promotions, data from the State Post Bureau showed. Warehouse managers in Hangzhou told Yicai they plan hiring additional staff to cope with higher volumes, while a branch of Cainiao Express in Zhejiang has increased its autonomous vehicle fleet to 30 units from 20.

China’s tech-hub Shenzhen has proposed establishing a group of funds worth several trillion yuan to promote entrepreneurial investment by 2026, with hundreds of billion for industrial and angel investing, Securities Times reported. The municipal government will promote insurance and asset management companies to invest in integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, as well as key industries including high-end equipment and new energy vehicles, the newspaper said.