On-Shore USDCNY Close Thursday Sept. 21, 2017

By Vicki Schmelzer

     NEW YORK (MNI) - On-shore Chinese yuan CFETS close 

23:30 local    23:30 local

time close      time close      16:30 local time CFETS    16:30 local time CFETS

                            reference rate close Sept.     reference rate close

Sept. 21          Sept. 20                          21                  Sept. 20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.5904              6.5749                      6.5934                    6.5742

     USDCNY closed at CNY6.5904, after trading in a CNY6.5875 to CNY6.6034 range

(Bloomberg levels). Thursday's high was the highest level for the pair since

August 29, when USDCNY saw a high near CNY6.6230.

     On June 27, dollar-yuan topped out at CNY 6.8442, before falling off

sharply as big Chinese banks sold dollars to prop up the yuan, purportedly at

the prompting of the People's Bank of China (PBOC). 

     Subsequently, USDCNY moved steadily lower, in line with an overall softer

U.S. dollar tone. The pair bottomed Sept. 8 near CNY6.4390, the lowest since

Dec. 11, 2015, when the pair bottomed also at CNY6.4390. USDCNY has since moved

higher in line with an improved dollar tone. 

     USDCNY posted a high of CNY6.9648 Dec. 28, 2016, very close to the

CNY6.9649 high seen Dec. 16, 2016, which was the weakest yuan level since May

21, 2008, when USDCNY topped out at CNY6.9743. 

     As a reminder, back on Jan. 12, 2016, the PBOC intervened heavily in order

to narrow the spread between the on-shore and off-shore yuan, which had widened

to over +1,400 pips in the first week in January as speculators entered into CNH

shorts on expectations of a higher USDCNY. 

     The PBOC was forced to intervene as one of the conditions of the yuan's

entry into the IMF's SDR basket was to close the gap. 

     In subsequent months in 2016, the CNH-CNY spread narrowed markedly,

reflecting overall improved risk appetite. The spread widened in response to the

June 23rd Brexit vote, but later narrowed again. 

     Beginning in December 2016, the CNH-CNY spread turned negative on several

occasions and the spread subsequently traded at extremely wide negative levels. 

     Analysts attributed the negative spreads, seen at times in 2017 to tighter

CNH funding conditions and positioning, not improved risk sentiment. 

     Thursday's CNH-CNY closing spread (at 11:30 p.m. local time) was -67 pips

versus -56 pips Wednesday and compared to the -607 pips seen May 31. The August

9 spread of +223 pips was the most positive spread since Dec. 12, 2016, when the

spread stood at +267 pips. 

     The Feb. 3, 2017 spread was -719 pips, which was the widest negative spread

since the -891 pip spread seen Jan. 5. On Dec. 19, 2016, the spread was -276

pips, which was the most negative spread of 2016. 

     On Nov. 23 and Nov. 25, 2016, the CNH-CNY spread widened to +287 pips. This

was the widest positive spread since Brexit in late June 2016, when on June 27,

the closing CNH-CNY spread of +396 pips was the widest, i.e. most risk averse,

since Feb. 3, 2016 when the spread was also +396 pips. 

     On Jan. 2, 2017, the off-shore yuan fell to a new life-time low versus the

dollar around CNH6.9895. Since then, overall the CNH has strengthened in line

with the CNY.

     Dollar-yuan (offshore) was trading near CNH6.5684 Thursday, after holding

in a CNH6.5583 to CNH6.6042 range. 

     The USDCNH low of CNH6.4436, seen Sept. 8, was the lowest level since Dec.

7, 2015, when the pair bottomed at CNH6.4425. 

     Over four months ago, when U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar were flying

higher, USDCNH posted a high near CNH6.9177 May 9, the highest level since March

9, when the pair saw a high near CNH6.9319. 

     Earlier, the People's Bank of China set the yuan central parity fixing

versus the U.S. dollar at CNY6.5867 versus CNY6.5670 Wednesday. This was the

lowest yuan fixing level since Sept. 1. 

     The Sept. 11 fixing of CNY6.4997 was the highest yuan fixing level since

May 12, 2016, when the parity rate was set at CNY6.4959. At the time, the PBOC

had set the fixing stronger for 11 straight trading days.

     These levels compared to the CNY6.9526 fixing, seen Jan. 4, 2017, which was

the weakest yuan fixing level since May 21, 2008. 

--MNI New York Bureau; tel: +1 212-669-6438; email: vicki.schmelzer@marketnews.com

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