People`s Bank Of China Leaves LPR Unchanged And Adds More Liquidity

Leading to the manufacturing and non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) readings. The yuan, which had purveyed to as low as 7.17 upon the dollar, has been one of the top-performing Asian currencies this year, rising nearly 3% year-to-date. Could the yuan challenge market expectations even more?

On Monday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) left its benchmark lending rate for household and corporate loans. For the fifth continuous month, the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) endured at 3.85%, and the five-year LPR settled at 4.65%. Banks use LPR for most new and prominent loans, and the five-year LPR typically defines the pricing of mortgages.

A recent catch Reuters poll of 35 analysts and traders did not expect the PBoC to switch both LPRs. The LPR serves as a reference rate that is fixed each month by 18 banks. In August 2019, the central bank revised the LPR by loosely tying it to the medium-term lending facility rate.

The central bank lately kept its medium-term lending facility (MLF) maintained for the fifth continuous month

The MLF commonly affects the LPR. Moreover, $88.5 million of liquidity was shifted into the market through the MLF, and $29.5 billion had matured.

The PBoC announced that when companies’ funding costs start reducing, the LPR will start sinking continuously for a specified period. In conclusion, interest in repayment costs will also decrease for businesses.

This comes as the PBoC added a net $31.1 billion of liquidity in the Chinese banking system through open market operations for the week ending September 18. The central bank elevated $70.8 billion into the markets via reverse repo operations, while $91.45 billion of reverse repo agreements evolved.

The USD/CNY currency pair dropped 0.37% to 6.7799, from an opening of 6.8052, at 17:13 GMT on Tuesday. The EUR/CNY diminished 0.9% to 7.9389, from the beginning of 8.0114.