China's Interbank Forex Trade Up in JanuaryChina's interbank foreign exchange trade for the first month of the year topped 5.31 billion US dollars, up 59 percent over last December, according to figures released by the Shanghai-based China Foreign Exchange Center.This means 279 million US dollars were traded on average on each of the 19 trading days. The total turnover includes some 5.24 billion US dollars, 209 million Hong Kong dollars, and 5.34 billion Japanese yen. On January 31, the weighted average exchange rate of the US dollar closed at 8.2781 yuan, only a minor increase of 7 basis points from the end of last year. The exchange rate of Hong Kong dollar remained stable, ending the month at 1.0605 yuan, with the yuan-yen rate standing at 7. 1148:100, compared with 7.1879:100 at the end of 2000. Interbank Money Market BriskAccording to the statistics, the January turnover of China's interbank money market totaled 257.58 billion yuan (about US$31 billion), representing a 385 percent rise over the same month last year.This included 78.97 billion yuan (US$9.5 billion) in credit, 173.93 billion yuan (US$21 billion) in bond repurchase agreements, and 4.68 billion yuan (US$600 million) in spot bonds. The weighted average interbank lending rate and repurchasing rate were 2.61 percent and 2.53 percent respectively in January. Seven-day items were the most popular choices, accounting for 45 percent of interbank credit and 68 percent of the bond repurchase. On February 5, the interbank Renminbi trade hit a record high of 40.04 billion yuan, the first time in history for the trade to exceed 40 billion yuan. |
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