SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)–China’s yuan strengthened to a near six-month high against the U.S. dollar late Thursday, as a surprise meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in Beijing later in the day intensified speculation over near-term yuan appreciation.
Traders said the U.S. Treasury’s decision over the weekend to delay its report on exchange-rate policies had given Chinese policy makers room to reform the country’s exchange-rate regime and to allow a gradual appreciation of the yuan.
A New York Times report late Thursday that cited unnamed sources as saying the Chinese government is very close to announcing a revision of its currency policy also spurred late-session dollar declines in the onshore and offshore markets, traders said.
On the over-the-counter market, the dollar was at CNY6.8245 around 0930 GMT, its lowest closing level since Oct. 12, when it settled at CNY6.8234 and down from Wednesday’s close of CNY6.8256. It traded between CNY6.8235 and CNY6.8259.
The central bank set the session’s central parity rate at 6.8259, unchanged from Wednesday but the lowest since May 25 when it was 6.8235.
Geithner and Wang would exchange views “on U.S.-China relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest” during their meeting, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
The meeting between Geithner and Wang would begin around 1000 GMT and last 60-90 minutes, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires, adding the two sides will jointly issue a written statement after the meeting.
“Expectations for the yuan to resume appreciating soon is rising,” said a Guangzhou-based trader at a foreign bank.
A Shanghai-based trader at a Japanese bank said, “People in the market are all guessing when the central bank will formally announce the change in yuan policy.”
The trader added that the very small falls in the fixing in recent days aren’t enough to indicate a policy change.
Traders said even though the daily trading range remained very narrow, it was clear demand for dollars had largely disappeared.
Offshore, dollar-yuan nondeliverable forwards were at 6.6160/6.6260, lowest since January, compared with 6.6370/6.6410 late Wednesday.
Tags: China, dow jones, Global Economy, japan, us economic, wall street
