MNI China Daily Summary: Wednesday, October 14

EXCLUSIVE: The People's Bank of China is becoming more tolerant of a strong yuan, as the country's economy recovers more strongly than its major competitors from the pandemic hit earlier in the year and as Beijing abides by the currency stipulations of the Phase One trade deal with the U.S. despite bilateral tensions, policy advisors and foreign exchange strategists told MNI.

POLICY: China will stick with its open-up policies looking to push both a more open global economy and its own new 'dual-circulation' development model, Chinese president Xi Jinping said on Wednesday. Speaking at an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Shenzhen Economic Development Zone, Xi added that China will build upon the achievements of Shenzhen, looking to further optimize the economy and discover new markets, whilst boosting the potential to achieve high-quality growth.

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) skipped open market operations on Wednesday. This resulted in a net drain of CNY50 billion given the maturity of CNY50 billion of reverse repos, according to Wind Information. The liquidity in the banking system is at a reasonable and ample level, the PBOC said on its website.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) increased to 2.1304% from 2.0443% on Tuesday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average rose to 1.9686% from the previous 1.6973%.

YUAN: The currency strengthened to 6.7370 against the dollar from 6.7385 on Tuesday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 6.7473, compared with 6.7296 on Tuesday.

BONDS: The yield on the 10-year China Government Bond was last at 3.2100%, up from the close of 3.1875% on Tuesday, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.56% to 3,340.78, while the CSI300 index lost 0.66% to 4,807.10. Hong Kong Hang Seng Index edged up 0.07% to 24667.09.

FROM THE PRESS: The PBOC is likely to roll over maturing MLFs with additional injections while keeping rates unchanged on Thursday, according to Securities Daily citing Wang Qing, the chief analyst with Golden Credit Rating. The added liquidity is to help commercial banks that have been forbidden to attract deposits through offering higher returns, Wang said. The PBOC will likely keep the MLF rate unchanged as the economy is already recovering, Wang said. CNY200 billion in MLF will mature on Friday, the Daily said.

China should tackle unemployment and create more jobs through direct aids to businesses and protecting vulnerable groups such as students, migrant workers and people in difficulties, the Economic Information Daily, run by the official Xinhua News Agency, said in a commentary. The number of new jobs added in the first 8 months of 2020 was down 20.6% y/y, and the unemployment rate in August ticked up 0.4% y/y, the Daily reported citing the National Bureau of Statistics. China will enforce policies such as fiscal and tax support and optimize the business environment to provide direct support to industries heavily impacted by the pandemic, the newspaper said. Skills training, entrepreneurial support, and employment aids should be used to further stabilize the labour market, the Daily said.

Chinese real estate developers recorded the highest sales for the year in September even as authorities tightened regulations and financing conditions, China Securities Journal said citing Zhang Dawei, chief analyst with Centalin Property. Home sales rose 19% y/y last month, a clear sign that the housing market has recovered from the pandemic, Zhang said. Home sales remained at a high level during the Oct. 1-8 holiday, as the number of units sold increased 14% for larger cities, the Journal reported citing data from unnamed institutions.

China's commercial and passenger vehicle sales are likely to increase in Q4 due to consumption policy measures, increasing investment, and new product releases, the 21st Business Herald reported on Wednesday citing the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The production and sales of automobiles rose for the sixth month at 14.1% and 12.8% y/y respectively in September, the newspaper said citing data from the CAAM. The consumption potential for low-end domestic products has not yet been realized due to unemployment and reduced incomes, the newspaper said citing the CAAM. The new-energy vehicle market showed a steady recovery through reaching 48% and 67.7% y/y growth in production and sales in September, following promotions by both the government and businesses.