LONDON: Chinese equities attracted foreign portfolio flows of $1.7 billion the day after the US presidential election - one of the biggest daily inflows this year, data from the International Institute of International Finance showed on Friday. The surge saw Chinese stocks rake in $2.6 billion in the week to end-Thursday - the best weekly performance since early July, the data showed.

China's blue-chip index this week posted its best week in three months, rising 4.1% with growing prospects of a Joe Biden presidency in the United States raising investors' hopes of decreased tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Meanwhile healthy gains in the yuan, diverging monetary policy and a more upbeat economic outlook than many other developing and developed nations have added to pull factors.

The yuan climbed to a 28-month high this week to close back in on the 6.4 to the dollar level it was at before Donald Trump bundled Washington and Beijing into a full-blown trade war in early 2018.

Monetary policy has diverged between the two countries with China's central bank, the PBOC, talking about putting in place an exit plan from its emergency stimulus whereas the Fed this week hinted at further support measures. "If you look at the renminbi (yuan) move, it is definitely pricing in an alleviation of the trade tensions," said Lombard Odier's Global Head of FX Strategy Vasileios Gkionakis.