China's 2000 Interbank Forex Trade Stable

China's Interbank foreign exchange trading volume for 2000 reached US$42.17 billion, according to the latest figures released by the Shanghai-based China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

This means that an average of US$168 million was traded on each of the 251 trading days of the year, a 34.1 percent rise on a yearly basis.

The total volume included about US$41.23 billion, 3.36 billion Hong Kong dollars, and 55.33 billion Japanese yen.

The year's weighted average exchange rate of the US dollar was 8.2774 yuan by December 29, with the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar averaged at 1.0606 yuan, and the yuan-yen rate standing at 7.1879:100, down 21 points, 43 points and 8479 points, respectively, from the end of the previous year.

Interbank Trade Brisk

The 2000 turnover for China's interbank money market amounted to 2.3 trillion yuan, according to the Shanghai-based China Interbank Trade System.

This means an average 9.24 billion yuan for each of the year's 251 trading days, a surge of 217 percent over the 1999 level.

The total included some 672.8 billion yuan for interbank lending, 1.57 trillion yuan in bond repurchase agreements, and 68.2 billion yuan in spot bonds.

The weighted average interbank lending rate and bond-repurchasing rate were 2.42 percent and 2.37 percent in 2000, respectively, down 21 percent and 22 percent from the previous year.

Interbank trading was most active for seven-day and 20-day items, with bond repurchasing most active in terms of seven-day and 14-day varieties.

Experts attributed the increase in interbank trade to the implementation of policies by the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, to improve the market over the last few years.

More financial institutions like securities companies and fund management companies were approved by the bank to enter the interbank money market, bringing the number of the country's interbank money market members to 465 by the end of 2000, 146 more than the figure at the beginning of the year.






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