MNI China Daily Summary: Thursday, November 9

     TOPS NEWS: U.S. President Donald Trump, on his first official visit to

China, blasted his predecessors for allowing China's trade surplus with the

United States to spiral out of control. After presiding over a business

deal-signing ceremony with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Trump said in a

speech broadcast on state-run television Thursday that trade between the two

countries has not been fair for many years. "It is a very one-sided and unfair

one, but ..." he said, drawing the last word out for effect ... "I don't blame

China. Who can blame a country for taking advantage of another country for the

benefits to its own citizens?" Trump said as the audience laughed. "I give China

great credit," he added. The two sides signed deals totaling about $250 billion,

including in gas exploration, aerospace, agriculture, semiconductor chips and

retail goods.

     TOP NEWS: China's Financial Stability and Development Committee under the

State Council, which was established earlier this year to coordinate the work of

financial regulators, convened for the first time earlier this week, Xinhua News

Agency reported Wednesday night. The meeting was led by Vice Premier Ma Kai,

indicating the committee has higher political standing than the individual

financial regulators on the panel: the People's Bank of China, the China Banking

Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the China

Insurance Regulatory Commission. The meeting stressed the committee would

continue China's prudent monetary policy, strengthen coordination of financial

regulation, enhance risk controls, ensure the financial sector supports the real

economy, protect financial stability, and safeguard the rights of consumers in

their financial transactions, the report said. (Xinhua).

     TOP NEWS: The yuan is likely to maintain its strength, extending its upward

momentum this year, the Financial News, a newspaper owned by the People's Bank

of China, said in a commentary. Rising imports and exports for the first three

quarters point to a recovering global economy and have eased the negative impact

from earlier concerns over anti-globalization, the report said. (Financial News)

     POLICY: The Chinese economy could well maintain this year's

stronger-than-expected growth pace in 2018, boosted by improving demand for

exports and the government's pro-growth fiscal policies, China Everbright Bank

predicted. Gross domestic product will grow between 6.5% and 6.8% in 2018,

Everbright analyst Zhou Maohua said in a report published Wednesday. 

     DATA: China's Consumer Price Index rose 1.9% year-on-year in October, above

the MNI survey median forecast for a 1.8% rise and higher than the 1.6% rise in

September. The October rate was the highest since January this year (2.5%). The

CPI slowed to +0.1% m/m last month after a 0.5% gain in September. CPI has risen

m/m for four consecutive months.

     DATA: China's Producer Price Index rose 6.9% year-on-year in October, the

same rate as in September and confounding the MNI survey median expectation for

it to slow to 6.6%. October marks the 14th consecutive month that the PPI rate

has been positive since it exited negative territory in September 2016. On a

month-over-month basis, the PPI rose 0.7% in October compared to a 1.0% gain the

month before. October PPI has risen m/m for four consecutive months.

     DATA: Chinese exports and imports grew at slower paces in October, with

export growth slowing below expectations. Both the import and export

year-on-year growth rates were flattered by a weak comparison bases in October

last year, when exports fell 7.3% and imports 1.4%. The slowdowns indicate that

both domestic and overseas demand fell during the last month.

     RATES: Money market rates were higher on Thursday after the PBOC injected a

net of CNY40 billion via open-market operations. The seven-day repo average was

last at 2.8945%, up from Wednesday's average of 2.8037%. The overnight repo

average was at 2.6572% compared with Wednesday's 2.5990%.

     RATES: The People's Bank of China injected CNY20 billion in seven-day

reverse repos, CNY10 billion in 14-day reverse repos and CNY10 billion in 63-day

reverse repos via open-market operations Thursday, with rates unchanged at

2.45%, 2.60% and 2.90%, respectively. The PBOC did not give a further

explanation of its operations this morning. This resulted in a net zero

injection/drain for the day, as a total of CNY40 billion in reverse repos

matured on Thursday. 

     YUAN: The yuan rose against the U.S. dollar Thursday after the People's

Bank of China set a weaker daily fixing. The yuan was last at 6.6312 against the

U.S. unit, rising 0.05% compared with the official closing price of 6.6343 on

Wednesday. The People's Bank of China set the yuan central parity rate against

the U.S. dollar at 6.6325 Thursday, modestly weaker than Wednesday's 6.6277. The

PBOC has set the fixing weaker for two straight trading days.

     BONDS: The yield on benchmark 10-year China government bonds was last at

3.8950%, up from the previous close of 3.8800%, according to Wind, a financial

data provider.

     STOCKS: Stocks rose, led higher by the property agency and hotel sectors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.36% at 3,427.79. Hong Kong's

Hang Seng Index was 0.77% higher at 29,130.44. 

     FROM THE PRESS: The Financial News, a newspaper managed by the People's

Bank of China, stressed Thursday in a front-page commentary the importance of

deepening interest rate and exchange-rate reform. For interest rate reform, the

central bank's macro-controls need to be enhanced as interest rates become more

market oriented, and the financial market benchmark interest rate system should

continue to be improved as references for pricing financial products, the

newspaper stressed. China also needs to further improve the yuan exchange rate

formation system by letting market pricing play a more decisive role and

strengthening the two-way movement of the currency. (Financial News)

     Deepening cooperation and abandoning outmoded geopolitical thinking are

critical to strengthening the Sino-U.S. relationship, the official People's

Daily said in a commentary Thursday, the day after U.S. President Donald Trump

arrived in Beijing. China embraces globalization and will work toward more open,

balanced, and "win-win" development of the global economy, the government

mouthpiece stressed. China and the U.S. are not enemies and their diplomatic

importance to each other is increasing. Any attempt to prevent or restrain the

further development of China, or create an Asia-Pacific or international

strategy to counter China would not succeed and would only increase mutual doubt

about each other's strategies. (People's Daily )

     Vice Premier Wang Yang discussed Sino-U.S. trade relations with U.S.

Commerce minister Wilbur Ross Wednesday afternoon, the official Xinhua News

Agency reported Wednesday night. After the discussion, the two leaders witnessed

the signing of "some of" the commercial cooperation agreements that will be

finalized during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China, Xinhua said.

(Xinhua)

     China will insist on a strategy of "quality first and efficiency as a

priority," Premier Li Keqiang said at a State Council meeting Tuesday, the

official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. China needs to nurture new

growth engines and transform its traditional growth model, further increase the

market orientation of its economy, and enhance the innovation within and

competitiveness of its economy, the report quoted Li as saying. The premier also

noted more work should be done to integrate China's economy into the global

economy while controlling potential economic and financial risks. (Xinhua News

Agency)

     The government will soon announce a series of new policies aimed at

improving private investment in China, the Economic Information Daily reported

Thursday, citing sources at the National Development and Reform Commission, the

nation's planning agency. The report noted local governments will also issue

similar policies. The policies would remove barriers on private investment,

expand private investment in large-scale infrastructure projects, as well as

direct private investment to industries with a favorable outlook, the newspaper

said. The report also noted private investment is important for the advancement

of China's economy -- private investment grew 6% in the first three quarters of

this year, 3.5 percentage points higher than the same period a year

ago.(Economic Information Daily)

     Technological innovation and green finance are increasingly becoming key

pillars advancing China's goal to create a green economy, the Economic

Information Daily, a newspaper under the official Xinhua News Agency, reported

Thursday. More detailed policies will be issued in the near future to help the

development of the green economy, the newspaper said. Yang Weiming, deputy head

of the Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, said the Ministry of

Finance is studying the creation of a "National Green Development Fund" and that

other government bodies are working on measures to enhance the disclosure by

listed companies of their environment costs. (Economic Information Daily)

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: vince.morkri@marketnews.com

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