Markets

Yuan firms for 4th week, crosses 200-day moving average

Published August 15, 2014 Updated August 15, 2014 02:24pm

SHANGHAI: China's yuan rose for the fourth straight week despite data that painted a mixed picture of economic conditions, crossing the 200-day moving average for the first time since March.

Spot yuan changed hands at 6.1476 per dollar at midday, 0.09 percent stronger than the previous close.

The People's Bank of China (China) set the daily midpoint fix at 6.1538, up 0.01 percent from Thursday's fix.

A slew of money and credit data published on Wednesday showed that China's economy is still facing downward pressure, despite government efforts to shore up growth.

Broad M2 money supply rose 13.5 percent in July from a year earlier, lower than the forecast 14.4 percent rise. Outstanding yuan loans grew 13.4 percent from a year earlier versus forecasts for growth of 14.0 percent.

However, data last week on imports and exports, which has the most direct impact on supply and demand in China's foreign exchange market, showed China's export sector pushed its trade surplus to a record in July, fueling optimism global demand will help counter pressure on the domestic economy.

On the weekly basis, the yuan is set to rise for the fourth straight week around 0.05 percent.

The yuan's recent rally has wiped out more than half of the 3.3 percent of losses for the currency earlier this year, when the monetary authorities engineered an unexpected depreciation of the yuan in the first four months to deter speculative bets on the currency's one-sided rise.