MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, November 20

EXCLUSIVE: China will hold off responding to further economic sanctions from the outgoing U.S. administration, believing that Beijing is not the intended target for President Donald Trump's actions, according to policy advisors to Beijing. "I think we don't need to respond to everything this government (Trump administration) does, but think about the relationship in the long-term. China and the United States need to co-exist with each other in the long-run," said Lv Xiang from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an expert on U.S.-China relationships.

POLICY: China's central bank maintained its key loan rate unchanged today for the seventh month in a row as it aims to normalize monetary policy with the economy recovering and debt pressures increasing. The November Loan Prime Rate, the benchmark to set companies' cost of borrowing, remains at 3.85% for the one-year maturity and at 4.65% for the five-year maturity.

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected CNY80 billion via 7-day reverse repos with rates unchanged at 2.2%. This resulted in a net drain of CNY80 billion given the maturity of CNY160 billion of reverse repos today, according to Wind Information. The operations aim to maintain the liquidity in the banking system reasonable and ample, the PBOC said on its website.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) fell to 2.2063% from close of 2.2286% on Thursday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average rose to 1.9259% from the previous 1.9021%.

YUAN: The currency strengthened to 6.XXXX against the dollar from 6.5851 on Thursday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 6.5786, compared with the 6.5484 set on Thursday.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bond was last at 3.3175%, down from Thursday's 3.3450%, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index increased 0.44% to 3,377.73 while the CSI300 index increased by 0.31% to 4,943.29. Hang Seng Index edged up 0.36% to 26,451.54.

FROM THE PRESS: A total of 52 bonds worth CNY398.8 billion were canceled or postponed in the period from November 10th to 19th, YiCai reported citing data from Wind. The bond default by the SOE Yongcheng Coal Group caused rising difficulties in financing primary market bonds and debt issuance, particularly of industrial and urban investment bonds with weak qualifications, YiCai said citing industry sources. Corporate bond issuance rates rose from 3.6843% to 5.4129% from November 2 to 20 due to rising benchmark interest rates and credit spreads, the newspaper reported citing data from Wind and industry sources. Future credit markets will need to recalibrate valuations for bonds, while liquidity and credit risk premiums might continue to expand for SOEs and companies with weak qualifications, YiCai said citing Guotai Junan Securities.

China's passenger car sales are projected to jump over 15% y/y in 2021, contributing 1 percentage point to retail sales growth, the Economic Information Daily reported citing projections from industry analysts. Local governments are expected to increase plate quotas, promote car sales in rural areas, and encourage trade-ins of older models, the Daily reported citing the State Council executive meeting held on Nov 18th. China currently has 66 cities each with more than 1 million vehicles, and future growth comes largely from rural areas with low rates of car ownership, industry sources said.

The Global Times, one of China's state-owned newspapers, said the country has no reason to compromise with the Five Eyes alliance, a group that it claims projects racial superiority. The tabloid newspaper, part of the People's Daily group, made the comments following a joint statement by the alliance criticizing China for disqualifying four legislators in Hong Kong. China will be able to defend its independent governance in the face of such actions, the Times said. The Five Eyes, originally meant to share intelligence, has evolved into "a loudspeaker" for the U.S. lead anti-China campaign and a fan club for Western countries to show loyalty to Washington, according to the newspaper. It singled out Australia for having gone too far in repeatedly attacking China over human rights and openly interfering in China's internal affairs in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.