MNI CHINA MARKETS: Yuan Stronger; Rates Lower; SH Shares Down

     BEIJING (MNI) - The yuan gained against the U.S. dollar on Friday after the

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

     The yuan was last at 6.3454 against the U.S. unit, compared with the

official closing price of 6.3613 on Thursday.

     The People's Bank of China set the yuan central parity rate at 6.3527

Friday, stronger than Thursday's 6.3768. Today is the only trading day that PBOC

has set the fixing stronger in this week but the rise has wiped off the

accumulated drop in previous four days.

     Interbank market rates fell after PBOC skipped open market operations,

which resulted in a net drain of CNY20 billion.

  - 7-day repo average fell to 2.6740% from Thursday's average of 2.6797%;

  - Overnight repo average dropped to 2.4518% from Thursday's 2.4830%.

     Yield on 10-year China Government Bond last traded 3.6700%, down from

3.6900% close on Thursday: Wind Information.

     The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.12% to 3170.47 at 11:03 am, while

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.2% to 31,179.89.

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

--MNI Singapore Bureau; +65 8233 2326; email: Asia-Editor@marketnews.com

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