MNI China Daily Summary: Friday, April 2

LIQUIDITY: The PBOC injected CNY10 billion via 7-day reverse repos with the rate unchanged at 2.2% on Friday. This keeps the liquidity unchanged after offsetting the maturity of CNY10 billion repos 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) lowered to 2.0981% from the close of 2.1536% on Thursday, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average lowered to 1.7199% from the previous 2.1283%.

YUAN: The currency strengthened to 6.5612 against the dollar from 6.5739 on Thursday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 6.5649, compared with the 6.5584 set on Thursday.

BONDS: The yield on the 10-year China Government Bond was last at 3.2400%, higher from 3.2350% of Wednesday's close, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index increased 0.52% to 3,484.39, while the CSI300 rose 0.99% to 5,161.56. Hong Kong stock market is closed for today.

FROM THE PRESS: New credit and lending by Chinese banks this year will be close to that of 2020 given the government's emphasis on a stable monetary policy, the Economic Information Daily said citing Wang Yifeng, chief analyst of finance industry at Everbright Securities. New RMB loans in 2020 was CNY19.63 trillion, CNY2.82 trillion higher than 2019, MNI noted. Supporting SMEs will remain the priority of banks this year and growth of loans to real estate sector will drop significantly, the newspaper said citing Zeng Gang, the director of Shanghai Institute for Financial and Development.

Chinese spending on travel and leisure is set to surge in the three-day Tomb Sweeping holiday starting April 3 with 100 million people forecast to travel, a level seen before last year's pandemic, the Shanghai Securities News said citing analyst Fang Zexi at CTrip. There has been a 25% rise in ticket bookingsfor the three holidays from last year, Fang was cited saying.

China seeks to reduce crude steel output and overcapacity this year through nationwide inspections on production in an effort to promote industry upgrade, according to China National Development and Reform Commission. China will review the implementation of NDRC overcapacity reduction campaign started since 2016, maintain supply-side structural reform policies, raise overall environmental and energy performance to help meet the efficiency goals, the NDRC said.