MNI China Daily Summary: Tuesday, April 23

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted CNY2 billion via 7-day reverse repo, with the rates unchanged at 1.80%. The operation has led to no change to the liquidity after offsetting the maturity of CNY2 billion today, according to Wind Information.

RATES: China's seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) decreased to 1.8324% from 1.8351%, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average increased to 1.7937% from the previous 1.7811%.

YUAN: The currency weakened to 7.2466 from 7.2436 against the dollar from Monday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 7.1059, compared with 7.1043 set on Monday. The fixing was estimated at 7.2444 by Bloomberg survey today.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 2.2700% down from 2.2875% at Monday's close, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.74% to 3,021.98 while the CSI300 index fell 0.70% to 3,506.22. The Hang Seng Index was up 1.92% to 16,828.83.

FROM THE PRESS: China will design rules and formulate policies using market concepts and continue to deepen capital market reform, Xinhua News Agency reported citing Premier Li Qiang. It is necessary to improve issuance, trading and delisting systems to promote a virtuous cycle of investment and financing, said Li. Efforts will be made to improve the quality of listed companies, enhance listed companies' awareness to increase dividends, strengthen supervision, and increase punishment for violations of laws and regulations, Li said.

Central Huijin, a Chinese sovereign fund may have purchased more than CNY300 billion in A-share ETFs in Q1, Securities Times reported citing the Q1 report of public funds. Central Huijin said early February it would expand the scope of ETF holdings, continue to increase the scale of holdings, and resolutely maintain the smooth operation of the capital market. The latest guideline for capital market development released earlier this month highlighted the establishment of a fast approval channel for ETFs which is expected to attract more incremental funds to the stock market, the newspaper said.

Pork prices should gradually increase in H2 given continued falls in production capacity, according to analysts at Sinolink Securities. The industry has seen a drop in newborn piglets which, combined with a rebound in demand, means prices will oscillate upward in May, said researchers at Everbright Securities. Hogs fetched an average price of CNY14.55 per kg in March, up 4.08% from February, and the slaughter weight of pigs has returned to normal levels, China Post Securities said. (Source: Yicai)