Trade-row impact on capital flows controllable

THE foreign exchange regulator said that any potential impact on China’s cross border capital flows stemming from Sino-U.S. trade frictions can be controlled.

Wang Chunying, spokeswoman at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said Thursday China isn’t expecting any major shifts in capital flows and is able to manage a normalization of monetary policies across the world. “If global economic recovery continues, it’s an inevitable choice that monetary policies of major economies will start to normalize,” Wang said. “However, its impact on China still can be controlled.”

CNOOC sells LNG in Shanghai auction

CHINA National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) on Wednesday sold cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a domestic exchange for the first time, the latest step by China to boost supplies of the clean fuel as the nation shifts away from coal.

CNOOC sold 60,000 tons of LNG for delivery in July at prices between 3,380 yuan (US$537.80) to 3,390 yuan per ton. It sold another 30,000 tons for November delivery at between 4,200 yuan and 4,210 yuan per ton through an auction on the Shanghai Petroleum and Gas Exchange. Prices for November delivery was 200 yuan lower than the spot LNG prices in the same period last year, the source said.

Yuan firms as foreigners snap up China stocks

THE yuan firmed Thursday amid signs that foreign investors are increasing purchases of Chinese stocks ahead of MSCI’s inclusion of A shares in some of its major indexes.

The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.2832 per dollar prior to the market open, compared with the previous fix of 6.2817. The yuan has been supported by increasing foreign interest in China’s capital markets ahead of greater opening of its stock and bond markets, as well as the broader financial sector.

More scrap, waste products face import ban

CHINA will ban the imports of 16 more scrap metal and chemical waste products from the end of this year, the environment ministry said Thursday.

The 16 banned products include steel smelting slag containing more than 25 percent of the metal manganese and ethylene polymer waste, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a document published on its website.