Briefly

PBOC conducts reverse repos

China's central bank conducted 577.7 billion yuan ($80.91 billion) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.7 percent on Thursday. The move aims to offset the impact of medium-term lending facility expiration, tax payment peak and government bond issuances, as well as keep liquidity reasonable and ample in the banking system, the People's Bank of China said. A reverse repo is a process in which the PBOC purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future. The MLF tool was introduced in 2014 to help commercial and policy banks maintain liquidity by allowing them to borrow from the central bank using securities as collateral.

Renminbi strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 16 pips to 7.1399 against the US dollar on Thursday, said the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the yuan against the greenback is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.

Xinhua - China Daily