Key developments:
Renminbi is in the spotlight as Trump meets Xi, as it remains unclear if the US president will match his threats of labelling China a currency manipulator with action.
In an interview with Asiamoney, Jin Liqun talked about the future of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and how it differs from other development banks.
Meanwhile, RMB-denominated official reserves remain low. The RMB only made up 1.07% of the pool of global FX reserves as of December 31, according to data released by the IMF on March 31.
Brexit could give Frankfurt a chance to trump London as Europe’s renminbi hub, a Bundesbank spokesperson told GlobalRMB.
China is set to give multinationals the opportunity to list A-shares in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ), and international companies should look at this closely, GlobalCapital Asia wrote in its weekly opinion piece.
FX:
Xi is in talks with Trump in Florida, with the Chinese president's visit to conclude on Friday following a working lunch between the two. Renminbi, trade deficit and security threats from North Korea are expected to dominate the discussion.
PBoC’s renminbi fix against the dollar came in at 6.8949 on Friday morning, up 19bp from Thursday. In the spot market, CNY was trading at 6.9014 as of 10.22am, with CNH at 6.8969, down 0.05% and 0.11% from their previous close, respectively, according to Bloomberg data.
The dollar index was trading at 100.540 as of 10.13am, down 0.04% from the previous close. The Thomson Reuters CNY reference index closed at 94.25 on Thursday, up 0.1% from the last close.
The trade-weighted index by CFETS closed at 92.93 on March 31, up 0.2% from the previous week, with the BIS basket and special drawing rights basket at 94.04 and 95.03, down 0.3% and up 0.2%, respectively. This marked a 0.97% monthly fall for the RMB index. The BIS basket and special drawing basket are down 1.11% and 0.79%, respectively, compared to the end of February.
FX turnover in the Chinese market jumped 65.7% in March 2017 on a monthly basis to Rmb3.9tr, according to CEIC data. The dollar share of overall trading was 95.9%, or Rmb3.8tr, compared to a 96.2% share in February.
Bonds:
China bond market capitalisation rose 0.5% to Rmb44.3tr in March, while turnover jumped 39.8% to Rmb59tr. Foreign banks held Rmb181.4bn of treasury bonds in the same month, down 4.9% from a month earlier, while holdings of policy financial bonds rose 5.1% to Rmb121.7bn, and holdings of corporate bonds rose 12.7% to Rmb443m.
Equities:
Activity on the northbound channel of the Stock Connect scheme was buoyant in March, with total turnover across Shanghai and Shenzhen Connect of Rmb156bn, up 56.3% on a month earlier. The Shanghai arm continues to dominate trading, with total turnover in the year so far of Rmb234.8bn, compared to Rmb125.3bn for the Shenzhen arm.
Regulators:
China’s foreign exchange market is relatively stable, with cross-border capital flows becoming more balanced, according to Safe. Speaking at a meeting attended by representatives from BMW, Daimler, IBM, Pfizer, Shell, Sony and Visa, Pan Gongsheng, head of Safe, argued that a stable foreign exchange market is in the interest of both regulators and market participants, and that it requires the efforts of all parties.
On April 5, Safe published the list of market makers in the China interbank foreign exchange market. Non-Chinese banks on the list include the Mainland subsidiaries of Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Shanghai branch), Bank of Montreal, BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole, DBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Mitsubishi UFJ, Société Générale, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Derivatives:
International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has recommended to the Chinese government to harmonise its derivatives markets standards with the international market , so that foreign institutions can transact with entities in China on a netting basis. ISDA will hold a seminar on the benefits of close-out netting in Beijing in June, the organisation said.
Hubs:
As of March 27, investors trading via LME Clear, a London-based subsidiary of the Hong Kong Exchange, need less than two business days of notice period to place or withdraw renminbi as collateral at the clearing house. LME said the move to cut the notice period from five business days helps its clients with better liquidity management.
The Association of Ghana Industries urged the Ghanaian central bank to adopt renminbi as a trading currency alongside the dollar, euro and pound, in order for Ghana to reduce its reliance on the dollar, according to local media.