MNI China Press Digest May 28: Flexible Yuan, Cmdty Ban, US

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• The People's Bank of China hasn't set targets for the yuan and will instead let the market decide its trade, the Securities Times reported citing analyst Zhang Yu with Huachuang Securities. Zhang commented after a forex industry meeting in Beijing on Thursday, which urged participants not to make one-way bets on the yuan's movement. The central bank may further boost the yuan's flexibility and will only provide appropriate guidance when "excessive trading momentum" exists, Zhang was cited as saying. The meeting on Thursday also indicated that China won't use the yuan's appreciation to counter rising commodity prices, the newspaper said.
• Chinese banks have been ordered by financial authorities to stop selling commodity-related investment products to individual investors as a measure to contain risks given the current commodity price swings, Yicai.com reported citing anonymous sources. Banks should have also limited opening new accounts for buying gold and silver products and raised the investment threshold, the newspaper said. So far, the prices of most commodity futures have fallen back to their two-month lows under the regulatory authority's tight grip on market speculation and hoarding as well as uncertainties over the Federal Reserve's possible rate hike, though prices are still rising from a year earlier, the newspaper said.
• China Vice Premier Liu He's talk with USTR Katherine Tai showed that economic and trade cooperation remains stable and helps ensure that bilateral relations don't "fall out of the track," according to Taoran Notes, a WeChat blog reposted on China.com.cn, an official government portal. Even the controversial Phase 1 agreement last year helped serve as a foundation stabilizing relations amid the growing differences, although that the latest talk didn't mention the agreement was worth noting, said the blog. China and the U.S. should improve understanding of each other's capabilities and intentions and optimize ways to deal with each other, it said.