Day: August 31, 2023

China’s factory activity surprisingly returned to expansion in August, a private-sector survey showed on Friday, with supply, domestic demand and employment improving, suggesting official efforts to revive growth might be having some effect. The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 51.0 in August from 49.2 in July, beating analysts’ forecasts of 49.3 and marking the highest reading since February. The 50-point index mark separates growth from contraction. The data, a snapshot of the sprawling manufacturing economy, surprised to the upside but offered a mixed picture of the…

China’s central bank announced on Friday a cut to the amount of foreign exchange deposits that financial institutions must hold as reserves by 2 percentage points, in the latest move to support yuan exchange rate. The required reserve ratio for foreign exchange deposits would be cut from 6 to 4 per cent from September 15, the People’s Bank of China said. The change will reduce the ratio to the same level as seen in 2006. The central bank last cut the ratio in September last year. The move is expected…

China’s biggest state-owned banks, mired in bad property loans, now face further downward pressure on profit as they prepare to respond to Beijing’s call to cut mortgage rates and revive the country’s faltering property market. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) cut their deposit rates by between five and 25 basis points, according to their websites. China Construction Bank (CCB), the world’s third-largest bank by assets, said on Thursday that it would “implement the task of reducing interest rates on existing mortgages of…

However, Washington and Beijing have continued to lock horns on a wide range of issues – from a new “Nato-like alliance” in northeast Asia and a tech war, to territorial disputes in the South China Sea and tensions in the Taiwan Strait. The relationship between the two countries has “structural contradictions”, said Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing. Advertisement “Mutual visits by senior officials from both sides can help prevent the bilateral relationship from sliding to its worst level,” he…

Country Garden Holdings extended the voting period by its bondholders to 10am on September 1, giving them extra time to deliberate on the property developer’s plan to postpone its payments and avert a default on a private onshore bond. The developer extended the vote at 9:30pm last night, 30 minutes before bondholders were due to cast their final electronic ballots, according to a report by Caixin. Country Garden did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Country Garden, China’s largest developer by sales not long ago, last week proposed extending…