SHANGHAI, April 13 (Reuters) - China's yuan inched lower
against the dollar on Tuesday, as investors became cautious
ahead of U.S. inflation data, shrugging off a slew of strong
economic indicators that pointed to continued recovery in the
world's second-largest economy.
Some currency traders said global markets were anxiously
awaiting U.S. inflation data due later in the session that could
suggest a faster economic rebound in the United States.
"Policy is obviously adding some uncertainty to the mix as
the market waits to see how central banks react to the upcoming
lift in inflation and the fiscally induced burst in spending,"
analysts at ANZ said in a note.
Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC)
set the midpoint rate at 6.5454 per dollar, 124 pips
or 0.19% firmer than the previous fix of 6.5578.
The onshore spot yuan opened at 6.5470 per dollar
and was changing hands at 6.5502 at midday, 27 pips weaker than
the previous late session close.
The yuan market was little reacted to a series of upbeat
economic data released this week. Earlier in the session, China
reported strong trade data showing exports grew at a robust pace
in March in yet another boost to the nation's economic recovery,
while import growth surged to the highest in four years.
"Looking ahead, the global reopening amid the vaccinations
rollouts and improving global outlook should hold the external
demand supportive, while the global supply-chain normalisation
could drive the production back to the original regions from
China," said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho
Bank in Hong Kong.
Separately, new bank loans in China rose more than expected
in March from the previous month due to strong corporate and
household demand, as the central bank walks a tightrope between
supporting the rapidly recovering economy and containing debt
risks.
The upbeat loan growth data has convinced some analysts and
economists that the PBOC was likely to stay on hold for the
remainder of the year.
"Although China's aggregate finance grew at a slower pace
than last year, yuan loan growth was faster than a year ago,
showing that shadow banking has continued to shrink," Iris Pang,
chief economist for Greater China at ING, said in a note.
"Together with deleveraging reform, this suggests that
financial market risks are under control," she said, expecting
no change to monetary policy this year and maintaining her
forecast for the yuan to trade at 6.3 per dollar at year-end.
The global dollar index rose to 92.258 at midday,
while the offshore yuan was trading at 6.5529 per
dollar.
The yuan market at 0405 GMT:
ONSHORE SPOT:
Item Current Previous Change
PBOC midpoint 6.5454 6.5578 0.19%
Spot yuan 6.5502 6.5475 -0.04%
Divergence from 0.07%
midpoint*
Spot change YTD -0.33%
Spot change since 2005 26.35%
revaluation
Key indexes:
Item Current Previous Change
Thomson 96.65 96.57 0.1
Reuters/HKEX
CNH index
Dollar index 92.258 92.091 0.2
*Divergence of the dollar/yuan exchange rate. Negative number
indicates that spot yuan is trading stronger than the midpoint.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) allows the exchange rate to
rise or fall 2% from official midpoint rate it sets each
morning.
OFFSHORE CNH MARKET
Instrument Current Difference
from onshore
Offshore spot yuan 6.5529 -0.04%
*
Offshore 6.7302 -2.75%
non-deliverable
forwards
**
*Premium for offshore spot over onshore
**Figure reflects difference from PBOC's official midpoint,
since non-deliverable forwards are settled against the midpoint.
.
(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by
Stephen Coates)
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