MNI China Daily Summary: Monday, October 16

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted CNY789 billion via 1-year MLF and CNY106 billion via 7-day reverse repo on Monday, with the rate unchanged at 2.50% and 1.80%, respectively. The operation has led to a net injection of CNY155 billion after offsetting the maturity of CNY240 billion reverse repos today and CNY500 billion MLF Tuesday, according to Wind Information.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) decreased to 1.8087% from 1.8833%, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average decreased to 1.7164% from 1.7350%.

YUAN: The currency weakened to 7.3115 against the dollar from previous close of 7.3040. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 7.1798, compared with 7.1775 set on Friday. The fixing was estimated at 7.3095 by Bloomberg survey today.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 2.7150%, up from 2.7100% at the previous close, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.46% to 3,073.81, while the CSI300 decreased 1.00% to 3,626.60. The Hang Seng Index was down 0.97% to 17,640.36.

FROM THE PRESS: The People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng vowed to provide more substantial support to the economy amid recent improvements in economic indicators. Aggregate and structural monetary tools are expected to be better leveraged to expand domestic demand, boost confidence and provide stronger support for the real economy, Pan said at a two-day meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee through Saturday in Marrakech, Morocco. He said the country would focus more on striking a better balance between economic growth and sustainability. (Source: PBOC Website)

China’s economic policy should focus on high-quality development while maintaining reasonable GDP growth, according to Premier Li Qiang. Speaking at a recent symposium, Li said economic performance had continued to improve since Q3, but China remained in a critical period of recovery and industrial transformation with authorities needing to strengthen confidence with precise policies and calm responses. Additionally, the premier wished entrepreneurs could achieve greater results within high-quality development and invited economists, and scholars to provide more constructive opinions on China's economic issues and high-quality development. (Source: Yicai)

China’s GDP likely grew 4.8% y/y in Q3 with high-frequency indicators in September showing a quicker pace of recovery, according to Wen Bin, chief economist at Minsheng Bank. Wen said the economy had shown weakness in July due to extreme weather, however, authorities implemented stronger countercyclical measures in August and September such as RRR and interest cuts which brought stability. Lu Ting, chief economist at Nomura China, said real estate remained weak in September which negatively impacted fixed-asset investment. Yicai noted the Bank of China Research Institute expects GDP growth of 4.4% in Q3, 5.7% in Q4 and about 5.2% for the whole year.