MNI China Daily Summary: Tuesday, April 15

POLICY: China’s GDP is expected to grow 4.8% this year alongside a 4.7% increase from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economies, a report from the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research office.

LIQUIDITY: The PBOC conducted CNY164.5 billion via 7-day reverse repos, with the rate unchanged at 1.50%. The operation led to a net drain of CNY102.9 billion after offsetting the maturities of CNY267.4 billion reverse repos. There is another CNY100 billion 1-year MLF maturing today, according to Wind Information.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) rose to 1.7142% from the previous 1.7039%, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average increased to 1.6977% from 1.6452%.

YUAN: The currency weakened to 7.3146 against the dollar from the previous 7.3021. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate lower at 7.2096, compared with 7.2110 set on Monday. The fixing was estimated at 7.3075 by Bloomberg survey today.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 1.6500%, down from the close of 1.6600% on Monday, according to chinamoney.com.cn.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.15% to 3,267.66, while the CSI300 index rallied 0.06% to 3,761.23. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.23% at 21,466.27.

FROM THE PRESS: Authorities will boost the investment value and long-term returns for investors by further upgrading the quality of listed companies and corporate governance and transparency, as well as increasing dividends and repurchases, according to expectations from the China Securities Journal. Officials need to normalise the delisting mechanism, open diversified exit channels and strengthen post-delisting supervision, the newspaper said. The government should enrich the supply of broad-based index ETFs to better meet investment demands, the newspaper added.

More cities will further relax home purchase and sales restrictions in Q2, and boost land transfer and affordable housing construction to stabilise the property market, the Economic Information Daily reported, citing expectations from Chen Wenjing, research director at China Index Academy. The Daily learned that Wuhan, Chongqing city and Hunan province plan to launch a new round of policy measures including more government acquisition of unsold homes and increased demand-side stimulus.

Dongguan city in Guangdong province aims to sell 30% of exports to Belt and Road nations by 2027, the local government has announced. Dongguan will fully expand internal and external markets through supporting enterprises to participate in domestic and foreign exhibitions, promote the development of bonded logistics and cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouse construction. The city will consider using municipal funds to provide import-interest subsidies to qualified enterprises and optimize cross-border settlement services for new trade formats. (Source: 21st Century Herald)