Chinese Currency "Soars"

Kidding about the "soars", but the removal of the peg to the dollar was still the big news to come out over the weekend. Bloomberg details:

The yuan rose the most since a July 2005 revaluation and forwards jumped after China’s central bank ended a two-year peg before a Group of 20 summit this week.

The currency advanced 0.42 percent to 6.7976 per dollar as of 5:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, the biggest gain since July 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 12-month non- deliverable yuan forward rose 1.1 percent to 6.6425, implying traders are betting on a 2.3 percent appreciation.

A stronger yuan will help curb inflation in the world’s third-largest economy and shift investment toward service industries from export-manufacturing, the People’s Bank of China said yesterday. The move may also deflect criticism from President Barack Obama and other G-20 leaders, who say China relies on an undervalued currency to promote overseas sales.

“It will be a very gradual appreciation but it could be front-loaded,” said Nizam Idris, a Singapore-based currency strategist at UBS AG, the world’s second-largest foreign- exchange trader. “The yuan will appreciate about 4 percent this year and 5 percent next year.”

Below we see the move... minimal (i.e. the "largest in 20 months" was only 0.4%) to say the least, but in the right direction (if in fact it is anything more than political maneuvering).



Source: Exchange-Rates