MNI China Daily Summary: Wednesday, May 21

POLICY: China and ASEAN countries have completed negotiations on version 3.0 of their Free Trade Agreement, ending discussions which began in 2022, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced.

LIQUIDITY: The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted CNY157 billion via 7-day reverse repos, with the rate unchanged at 1.40%. The operation led to a net injection of CNY65 billion after offsetting the maturities of CNY92 billion today, according to Wind Information.

RATES: The seven-day weighted average interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR007) fell to 1.5709% from 1.5856%, Wind Information showed. The overnight repo average decreased to 1.5086% from 1.5163%.

YUAN: The currency strengthened to 7.2065 to the dollar from 7.2207 on Tuesday. The PBOC set the dollar-yuan central parity rate higher at 7.1937, compared with 7.1931 set on Tuesday. The fixing was estimated at 7.2181 by Bloomberg survey today.

BONDS: The yield on 10-year China Government Bonds was last at 1.6760%, up from Tuesday's close of 1.6670%, according to Wind Information.

STOCKS: The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.21% to 3,387.57, while the CSI300 index rose 0.47% to 3,916.38. The Hang Seng Index edged up 0.62% at 23,827.78. 

FROM THE PRESS: The PBOC is expected to cut interest rates further in the second half given external uncertainties, said Wang Qing, analyst at Gold Credit Rating. The latest 10 basis point cut in policy interest rates to 1.4% drove the Loan Prime Rates down by 10bp and reduced the overall deposit rate by 0.11-0.13 percentage points, which will help stabilise banks' net interest margin, said Wang. (Source: Securities Daily)

China’s national general public budget revenue reached CNY8.06 trillion between January and April, down 0.4% y/y, but narrowing from the 0.7% fall in Q1, data from the Ministry of Finance showed. National general public budget expenditure reached CNY9.3 trillion, up 4.6% y/y, including social security and employment spending at CNY1.69 trillion, up 8.5% y/y and an education outlay of CNY1.45 trillion, up 7.4% y/y. (Source: 21st Century Herald)

The Shanghai Port U.S. West Line for mid-June shipment has reached USD9,100 per 40-foot container, a sharp increase from the USD2,250 offered in early May, Yicai news outlet reported, citing industry insiders. U.S. customers are urging delivery of the goods not shipped during April's high tariffs and also seizing the 90 day window to place new orders and replenish stock, Yicai added. Chen Yang, head of a shipping information consulting platform, said U.S. routes suffered from a capacity shortage after transport media was reassigned to European routes in April.