MNI CHINA MARKETS: Yuan Strengthens; Rates Mixed; Stocks Up

     BEIJING (MNI) - The yuan rose against the U.S. dollar on Friday morning

after the People's Bank of China set a stronger fixing for the day.

     The yuan was last at 6.5144 against the U.S. unit, much stronger than the

official closing price of 6.5348 on Thursday. The currency rose as high as

6.5132 this morning, the strongest since Sept. 11 this year. 

     The offshore yuan also rallied, rising 110 pips to 6.5198 against the

greenback, also the strongest since Sept. 11. 

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

U.S. dollar at 6.5342 on Friday, stronger than Thursday's 6.5412. PBOC has set

the fixing stronger for four trading days out of five this week, and today's

fixing was the highest since Sept. 12.

     Money market rates were mixed in the interbank market after the PBOC

skipped open-market operations for the sixth straight trading day, with the

liquidity situation for small banks and non-banking institutions deteriorating.

The seven-day repo average was last at 2.9292%, lower than Thursday's average of

2.9769%. The overnight repo average was at 2.8006%, also lower than Thursday's

2.6577%. 

     The yield on benchmark 10-year China government bonds was last at 3.8937%,

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

provider. 

     Mainland stocks were up, led higher by the high-tech sector in the morning

session. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.06% at 3,298.26. Hong

Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.33% higher at 29,961.29

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

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

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$Q$$$,M$$FI$,MN$FI$,MN$FX$]