Xi went to Macau on Wednesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the special administrative region’s handover to China from Portugal.
During his visit, the PBoC announced that it would raise the daily limit on individuals’ remittance from Macau to their renminbi accounts in Mainland China to Rmb80,000 ($11,415) from the previous Rmb50,000.
Xi also met with the outgoing chief executive of Macau, Chui “Fernando” Sai On, on Wednesday. He acknowledged Chui's diligent work during his 10 year tenure as the chief executive. On Friday morning, Ho Iat Seng, the new chief executive of Macau, was sworn in.
*
The National People’s Congress, the legislative body of China, will hold the fourth reading of the draft of China’s Securities Law next week, state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
The law has been through three readings in the past four years. The first draft was written in 1999 when the country barely had a financial market. The most recent reading happened in April. In that reading, regulations on the registration-based IPO system for the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market was included for the first time.
The fourth draft includes updated regulations on protecting small and medium-sized investors, stricter information disclosure requirements and more severe punishments for illegal actions, according to Securities Times, a state-owned paper. If the Securities Law passes the fourth reading, it will become effective by the end of the year, the report added.
*
The PBoC lowered the interest rate on 14-day reverse repurchase agreements from 2.7% to 2.65% on Wednesday. Last month, it cut the seven-day repo rate to 2.5% from 2.55%. That trim was the first cut by the central bank in more than four years.
Analysts said that the central bank is likely to inject more liquidity into the interbank market from now until the Chinese New Year, which is in late January.
*
The central bank sold Rmb10bn of six month bills on Friday. The bills were priced at 2.8% — 29bp over the yield of the same tenor Chinese government bonds onshore, Chinabond data shows. The auction had a Rmb29bn order book, according to a statement by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
*
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam met with Xi in Beijing on Monday to deliver her annual work report.
Xi said of Lam: “In the face of various difficulties and pressures, you have stuck to the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, govern according to laws and carried out your duties with dedication, and done a great deal of hard work,” state media Xinhua News reported.
*
China and the US are in close contact about the signing of their phase one trade deal, Gao Feng, a spokesperson at the Chinese commerce ministry said in a Thursday press conference.
“There is no other specific information on the deal to disclose currently,” Gao told reporters.
“After the official signing of the deal, the content of the agreement will be made public.”
China unveiled a new list of tariff exemptions for six chemical and oil products from the US, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday. The exemptions will be valid for one year starting from December 26. Duties already imposed on US products would not be refunded, the statement added.