China's yuan inches higher as Xi's call fuels stimulus hopes
SHANGHAI, Sept 13 (Reuters) -China's yuan inched higher against a weakening U.S. dollar on Friday as President Xi Jinping's call to step up efforts to hit Beijing's annual economic growth target heightened expectations for more stimulus.
Recent economic data shows the world's second-largest economy struggling, prompting analysts to expect more policy support to achieve Beijing's growth target of "around 5%" for this year.
"China's growth momentum has slowed rapidly in recent months," analysts at ANZ said in a note.
"The growth gap from the official target could widen to 0.4 to 0.5%. This will likely prompt the authorities to release a stimulus package."
As of 0254 GMT, the onshore yuan CNY=CFXS was 0.13% higher at 7.1081 to the dollar.
Even if the yuan retains all its gains on Friday, it would still have lost 0.11% against the dollar for the week, booking the second straight weekly drop.
Prior to the market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band, at 7.1030 per dollar and 18 pips firmer than a Reuters' estimate.
Currency traders said markets were anxiously awaiting more August data due later this week, including credit lending and activity indicators, to better gauge the health of the economy.
"China's activity data for August will likely show that growth has remained slow, as suggested by the soft August official and Caixin PMI readings," Commerzbank economists said in a note.
"It will be important to watch whether infrastructure investment will pick up – a sign indicating that the government has indeed pushed ahead for more stimulus as growth momentum seems to be stalling."
Meanwhile, a Reuters poll showed that new yuan loans in China likely rebounded sharply in August from a 15-year low in July, as the central bank seeks to shore up a flagging economic recovery.
Separately, in global markets, the U.S. Federal Reserve is all but certain to cut rates next week, although uncertainty around whether it will cut rates by 25 or 50 basis points has kept investors on the edge. FRX/
By 0254 GMT, the offshore yuan traded at 7.1099 yuan per dollar CNH=, while the dollar's six-currency index =USD was 0.119% lower at 101.04.
China's financial markets will be closed on Sept. 15 to Sept. 17 for the Mid-Autumn Festival and reopen on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
LEVELS AT 0254 GMT:
INSTRUMENT | CURRENT vs USD | UP/DOWN(-) VS. PREVIOUS CLOSE % | % CHANGE YR-TO-DATE | DAY'S HIGH | DAY'S LOW |
Spot yuan CNY=CFXS | 7.1081 | 0.14 | -0.09 | 7.1063 | 7.1135 |
Offshore yuan spot CNH=D3 | 7.1099 | 0.12 | 0.21 | 7.1039 | 7.1153 |
Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sam Holmes
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
