Fundamental Forecast for the Yuan:Â Neutral
- China’s Market News: PBOC: Dollar/Yuan Flexibility Will be Increased
- China’s Market News: Investors Worry about Strict Rules on Stocks, PE
- What Are the Traits of Successful Traders? Get FXCM’s Free Trading Guide
This week, both the onshore and offshore Yuan weakened against the US Dollar following the advances of the prior week. As of 10:30am EDT, the onshore Yuan (USD/CNY) dropped by -0.23% to 6.6520 while the offshore Yuan (USD/CNH) lost -0.65% to 6.66831. The better-than-expected July Non-Farm Payrolls read sent the US Dollar soaring on Friday, which largely contributed to the Yuan losses this week. In terms of the Yuan’s daily reference rate, PBOC guidance was on a roller-coaster ride this week: The changes in the fix from Monday to Friday was +234 pips, -174 pips, +256 pips, -249 pips and +38 pips respectively. Volatility in the Yuan’s fix is significantly elevated, but the range of the fix remains relatively tight. Looking forward, a heavy calendar of Chinese data could further increase the Yuan’s volatility, with key risks from foreign reserves, consumer price index, trade, new Yuan loans, monetary supply and industrial production prints for the month of July. In addition to market drivers, the PBOC is likely to continue to guide the Yuan within a range below the level of 6.70 with psycho-social importance.
The top two gauges for investors to watch next week are monetary supply and New Yuan Loans, which may affect the PBOC’s monetary policy. More specifically, traders will likely keep an eye on the gap between growth in M1 and M2, as this reveals how serious the problem that Chinese investors are currently facing: they are not short of money but lacking investment opportunities. A widening gap between M1 and M2 would indicate that the problem becomes increasingly severe. M1 is a measure for the most liquid portions of monetary supply: papers, coins, as well as checking accounts. M2 includes all elements in M1 and assets can be quickly converted into cash, such as savings deposits. In June, the growth of M2 was 11.8% while the growth of M1 soared to 24.6%.
