MNI China Daily Summary: Monday, August 2

DATA: Caixin China's manufacturing PMI for July eased one point on month to 50.3, the lowest level since May 2020 as demand contracted for the first time in more than a year, the financial publisher said on Monday. The lower PMI was due to weaker production and contracted demand, even though it was the 15th straight month above the breakeven 50.0 level that separates expansion from contraction.

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected CNY10 billion via 7-day reverse repos with the rate unchanged at 2.2%. The operation left liquidity unchanged given it netted off CNY10 billion reverse repos maturing today, according to Wind Information. The operation aims to keep liquidity reasonable and ample, the PBOC said on its website.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) fell to 2.0228% from 2.2980% on Friday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average decreased to 1.8745% from the previous 2.1524%.

YUAN: The currency weakened to 6.4609 against the dollar from 6.4560 on Friday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 6.4660, compared with the 6.4602 set on Friday.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bond was last at 2.8600%, down from 2.8750% on Friday, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 1.97% to 3,464.29 while the CSI300 index gained 2.55% to 4,933.74. Hang Seng Index increased 1.06% to 26,235.80.

FROM THE PRESS: The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) supports companies' choosing listings between domestic and international markets, the official Securities Times reported citing a statement by the regulator in response to the U.S. SEC requiring Chinese companies to fully explain their legal structures and disclose the risk of Beijing interfering in their businesses. At the same time, China's capital market has had healthy and sustainable growth and offered increased quality investment targets, the regulator said in the statement. The CSRC said the two authorities should find "appropriate solutions" by increased communications on the basis of "mutual respect," according to the newspaper. MNI notes that the Chinese regulator downplayed the impact of the tougher requirement by the SEC and highlighted its domestic capital market can meet companies' capital needs.

China may implement one or two rounds of cuts to banks' reserve requirement ratios in H2 to meet increasing maturing MLFs and its goals of supporting green finance and innovation, judging by the statement following a Politburo meeting on the economy chaired by President Xi Jinping on Friday, the Economic Information Daily said on its front page citing Dong Ximiao, the chief researcher at Merchants Union Consumer Finance. The Ministry of Finance is also expected to accelerate local government special bond sales to help boost investment so to stabilize the growth, said Wen Bin, chief researcher of China Minsheng Bank. Analysts noted that the Politburo meeting left out the saying of "a window of opportunity with less growth pressure" compared with the wording of the previous meeting, suggesting that stabilizing growth will be emphasized again in the short-term, the newspaper said.

China should increase policy supports to expand domestic demand and help SMEs recover to consolidate the growth momentum, the Shanghai Securities News said on its front page after the July PMI slowed partly due to abnormal rains and flooding. China should let government investment drive the expansion of domestic demand as well as boost consumption in H2, the newspaper cited analysts as saying. In the short term, service consumption may still be impacted by the outbreaks of Covid-19 cases though the overall impact on the economy will be limited. MNI noted that the Delta variant of Covid-19 spread to more than 10 cities in the past few days which may dampen an expected rebound in summer spending.