China's primary money rates fell for the week on ample liquidity as the central bank made its biggest weekly net cash injection in nine months, seeking market stability for the all-important Communist Party congress, traders said. The once-every-five-years congress began with comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping that China will deepen market-oriented reforms of its exchange rate as well as its financial system. The party congress will close on Oct.24.
The volume-weighted average rate on the benchmark seven-day repo traded in the interbank market, considered the best indicator of general liquidity in China, was 2.8024 percent on Friday afternoon, around 2 basis points lower than the previous week's closing average rate. Market participants attributed falls in money rates to loosened cash conditions as the central bank generously offered funds this week through open market operations.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected a net 560 billion yuan ($84.63 billion) via its reverse bond repurchase agreements for the week, compared with a net drain of 240 billion yuan a week earlier. The weekly net cash injection was the biggest since mid-January. In the bond market, yields on 10-year Chinese treasury bonds rose to 3.726 percent on Friday, around 4 basis points higher than the previous week's close. Bond yields rise when prices fall.
A trader at a Chinese bank said rises in treasury yields were driven by the positive prospects for economic growth seen in remarks from central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan earlier in the week, and third quarter gross domestic product data issued on Thursday. Solid economic performance suggested that the authorities would likely continue pushing forward with its deleveraging campaign, which piled pressure on the bond market, the trader added.
China's economy grew 6.8 percent over the July-September period from a year earlier, in line with market expectations and slightly slower than the second quarter. The outcome was slightly at odds central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan's more optimistic growth outlook on Sunday, when he said GDP could grow 7 percent in the second half of this year.
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