Hong Kong interbank rates drop to near 3-year low after FX intervention
Hong Kong interbank rates fell further on Friday to hit the lowest level in nearly three years, reflecting an infusion of cash from the city's de-facto central bank.
The overnight Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (HIBOR) dropped to 0.09786 per cent, the lowest level since July 2022.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
China says it may speed up rare earths application approvals from EU
SHANGHAI: China is willing to accelerate the examination and approval of rare earth exports to European Union firms and will also deliver a verdict on its trade investigation of EU brandy imports by July 5, its commerce ministry said on Saturday (Jun 7). Price commitment consultations between China and the EU on Chinese-made electric vehicles exported to the EU have also entered a final stage but efforts from both sides are still needed, according to a statement on the Chinese Commerce Ministry's website. The issues were discussed between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in Paris on Tuesday, according to the statement. Most recently, China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The ministry said China attached great importance to the EU's concerns and "was willing to establish a green channel for qualified applications to speed up the approval process". In a separate statement the commerce ministry issued later on Saturday, it said China was willing to further strengthen communication and dialogue with relevant countries on rare earth export controls as it recognised that demand from sectors such as robotics and electric vehicles had risen. BRANDY, EVS The ministry earlier said that Commerce Minister Wang during the meeting "expressed the hope that the EU will meet us halfway and take effective measures to facilitate, safeguard and promote compliant trade in high-tech products to China". Chinese anti-dumping measures that applied duties of up to 39 per cent on imports of European brandy - with French cognac bearing the brunt - have also strained relations between Paris and Beijing. The brandy duties were enforced days after the EU took action against Chinese-made electric vehicle imports to shield its local industry, prompting France's President Emmanuel Macron to accuse Beijing of "pure retaliation". The Chinese duties have dented sales of brands including LVMH's Hennessy, Pernod Ricard's Martell and Remy Cointreau. Beijing was initially meant to make a final decision on the brandy duties by January, but extended the deadline to April and then again to July 5. China's Commerce Ministry said on Saturday that French companies and relevant associations had proactively submitted applications on price commitments for brandy to China and that Chinese investigators had reached an agreement with them on the core terms. Chinese authorities were now reviewing the complete text on those commitments and would issue a final announcement before July 5, it said. In April, the European Commission said the EU and China had also agreed to look into setting minimum prices of Chinese-made electric vehicles instead of tariffs imposed by the EU last year.
CNA
5 hours ago
- CNA
US and China set for trade talks in London on Monday
WASHINGTON: Three of US President Donald Trump's top aides will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday (Jun 9) for talks aimed at resolving a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies that has kept global markets on edge. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will represent the United States in the talks, Trump announced in a post on his Truth Social platform without providing further details. China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that vice premier He Lifeng will be in the United Kingdom between June 8 and June 13, adding that the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism would be held during this visit. "The meeting should go very well," Trump wrote. Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in a rare leader-to-leader call amid weeks of brewing trade tensions and a dispute over critical minerals. Trump and Xi agreed to visit one another and asked their staffs to hold talks in the meantime. Both countries are under pressure to relieve tensions, with the global economy under pressure over Chinese control over the rare earth mineral exports of which it is the dominant producer and investors more broadly anxious about Trump's wider effort to impose tariffs on goods from most US trading partners. China, meanwhile, has seen its own supply of key US imports like chip-design software and nuclear plant parts curtailed. The countries struck a 90-day deal on May 12 in Geneva to roll back some of the triple-digit, tit-for-tat tariffs they had placed on each other since Trump returned to the presidency in January. That preliminary deal sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. The S&P 500 stock index, which at its lowest point in early April was down nearly 18 per cent after Trump unveiled his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on goods from across the globe, is now only about 2 per cent below its record high from mid-February. The final third of that rally followed the US-China truce struck in Geneva. Still, that temporary deal did not address broader concerns that strain the bilateral relationship, from the illicit fentanyl trade to the status of democratically governed Taiwan and US complaints about China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model. Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute. The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives. China sees mineral exports as a source of leverage. Halting those exports could put domestic political pressure on the Republican US president if economic growth sags because companies cannot make mineral-powered products. In recent years, US officials have identified China as its top geopolitical rival and the only country in the world able to challenge the United States economically and militarily.
CNA
6 hours ago
- CNA
Asia First - Jun 2025 - Asia First Fri 6 Jun 2025
02:27:55 Min Asia First From the opening bell across markets in Southeast Asia and China, to the biggest business interviews and top financial stories, tune in to Asia First to kick-start your business day.
