China Mulls Expanding Foreign Exchange Trading Hours

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 12, 2002

China Mulls Expanding Foreign Exchange Trading Hours

China is considering extending the hours of foreign exchange trading sessions in response to requests from banks for longer sessions, officials said Thursday.

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China is considering extending the hours of foreign exchange trading sessions in response to requests from banks for longer sessions, officials said Thursday.

Daily trading sessions for the yuan against major foreign currencies currently last only 90 minutes, leaving banks with limited time to take orders from customers and make trades, said Shen Jun, an official at the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the official exchange for foreign currencies in China.

The trade system has called on its 316 members to fill out a questionnaire asking whether it would be appropriate to extend trading hours and by how long. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange will make the final decision, Shen said.

"It's very likely that we will expand our trading time," said Gong Jiong, another official at the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

The yuan is traded against the US dollar, Hong Kong dollar, yen and euro in the trade system. Exporters and importers must trade the Chinese currency for foreign currencies by going through banks.

China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, now keeps the yuan in a trading band of around 8.276 to 8.280 yuan to the dollar, to ward off speculative trading.

However, because China's international trade is expected to increase in the years that follow its entry into the World Trade Organization, the government is expected to gradually liberalize the country's foreign exchange practices.

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