Chinese exports fell by 1.4% in dollar terms while imports fell 7.6%.
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The Canadian dollar wallowed at a 12-year trough early on Thursday following another slide in oil prices, while sterling was pinned near a 5-1/2 year low ahead of the Bank of England’s first policy review of the year. Republication or redistribution of content provided by EconoTimes is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of EconoTimes, except for personal and non-commercial use.
In dollar-denominated terms, China’s exports fell for the sixth consecutive month, by 1.4 percent from one year earlier in December, but the pace of fall decelerated from November’s 6.8 percent decline.
China’s main stock indexes fell, with the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC trading down 1.3 percent and the CSI300 index .CSI300 off 1 percent, below their September lows.
“We know that the USA economy is not really accelerating but most importantly emerging markets continue to suffer and that’s where China sends a lot of its products”.
Imports collapsed not as much as had been predicted.
More stability in China would also leave the way clearer for the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year and the brighter tone drove the dollar around half a per cent higher against the euro and yen. The currency gap reached its all-time high last week, alarming Chinese authorities as investors were making huge sum of money, misusing this abnormal situation.
China’s central bank fixed the midpoint rate for the yuan at levels close to the fix of the previous two days, easing concerns over the rapid depreciation of the currency seen at the start of the year.
China’s yuan steadied on Friday as fears of a market meltdown faded thanks to central bank support for the currency during the week, though Chinese shares dropped after weaker-then-expected bank lending data and falling oil prices unsettled markets. The world’s second largest economy recorded 6.9% growth rate in third quarter of 2015, its lowest since the 2008 financial crisis. On annual basis, exports in 2015 plunged 2.8% compared to 2014.
After the market closed on Thursday the Commerce Ministry released another snippet of upbeat data, showing that foreign direct investment into China had risen past year despite slowing growth.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and South Korea’s Kospi both gained 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite is down 18% so far this year. This contrasted with market expectations where a further retrenchment of 4.1% had been predicted. The yuan fell 1.5 per cent last month, the most since August, when a surprise devaluation was announced.
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CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 118.28 yen from 117.89 yen on Tuesday.
