China Stocks gain ahead of Lunar New Year holiday

The Mainland China share market finished session higher on Wednesday, 10 February 2021, as investors continued cheered with better than expected new yuan-denominated loans data for January 2021 and Beijing's latest reform measures for the stock market.

At closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.43%, or 51.60 points, to 3,655.09. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, added 1.75%, or 42.30 points, to 2,460.54. The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 2.14%, or 121.47 points, to 5,807.72. Chinese financial markets will shut for the week-long holiday from Thursday with trade resuming on Feb. 18.

China's new yuan-denominated loans totaled 3.58 trillion yuan (about $556.3 billion) in January, an increase of 225.2 billion yuan year on year, hitting a record high, central bank data showed. The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose by 9.4 percent year on year to 221.3 trillion yuan at the end of January, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC). The M1, a narrow measure of money supply that includes cash and short-term deposits, grew by 14.7 percent year on year to 62.56 trillion yuan at the end of January. M0, the amount of cash in circulation, fell by 3.9 percent year on year to 8.96 trillion yuan by the end of last month. The central bank injected 531 billion yuan of net cash into the market in January, PBOC data showed.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan eased against the dollar on Wednesday despite firmer mid-point fixing by the central bank. Prior to the market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC at a near 32-month high of 6.4391 per dollar, 142 pips, or 0.22% firmer than the previous fix of 6.4533. In the spot market, the onshore yuan CNY=CFXS opened at 6.4400 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.4377 around late afternoon, weaker than the 10-day high of 6.4333 hit a day earlier.

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