Yuan slips on weaker midpoint

    CHINA’S yuan edged down against the U.S. dollar yesterday after the central bank set the weakest official midpoint in nearly a month to reflect strength in the global dollar index.

    China eased restrictions on banks’ yuan trading from Jan. 1, replacing daily caps on banks’ foreign exchange positions with weekly limits, leaving them leeway to short dollars within that period. However, it failed to lift the yuan’s performance in the first trading after the New Year holiday as traders took long dollar positions in the onshore market to arbitrage between different yuan spot rates in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The People’s Bank of China fixed the midpoint at 6.1248 per dollar, down 0.09 percent from the previous trading day Dec. 31. It was the weakest level since Dec. 8. Spot yuan changed hands at 6.2190 in early afternoon trade, down 0.24 percent from last Wednesday’s close at 6.2040. In the offshore market, it traded at 6.2297.

    Greenland Group 2014 sales up 50%

    CHINA’S State-backed property developer Greenland Group yesterday said its 2014 contracted sales rose 50 percent from a year earlier, including overseas sales that surged 4.7 folds, and that it would speed up non-property investments this year, including opportunities in dairy, food and winery in Australia.

    Contract sales totaled 240.8 billion yuan (US$38.75 billion) for the year, of which 15.3 billion yuan was from overseas, Greenland, one of the top developers in China, said in a statement. The overseas sales figure was below the 20 billion yuan target Greenland set for last year, which the company cited different regulations on disclosure as reason. The actual contracted sales have reached 20 billion yuan. Shanghai-based Greenland has said last year it aimed overseas sales to reach 40 billion yuan in 2015.

    Greentown yet to clear sale to Sunac

    DEVELOPER Greentown China Holdings Ltd. said yesterday that it had not approved a purported sale of its joint venture assets to real estate developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd.

    In an announcement Dec. 31, Sunac China said it would buy assets from Hangzhou-based Greentown China, its joint venture partner, in a 15.5 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) deal. Greentown China said yesterday that the board was surprised by Sunac China’s announcement. It said no agreements had been reached and Sunac China’s claims about the agreements for the purported disposals were unilateral, and added it is seeking legal advice on the unilateral actions made and taken by Sunac China.