News

    SHANGHAI, April 12 (Reuters) - China's yuan eased against
the dollar in thin trade on Monday, pressured in part by
escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington, while
uncertainty over the policy outlook for major central banks kept
investors in a cautious mood.
    The addition of seven Chinese supercomputing entities to a
U.S. economic blacklist reinforced a difficult backdrop for
relations between the two nations on a range of issues.

    Sino-U.S. tensions have been a major pressure point on the
yuan since the outbreak of the trade war in 2018. 
    Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC)
set the midpoint rate at 6.5578 per dollar, 169 pips
or 0.26% weaker than the previous fix of 6.5409. 
    In the spot market, onshore yuan opened at 6.5570
per dollar and was changing hands at 6.5542 at midday, 12 pips
weaker than the previous late session close.
    Several currency traders said investors were watching for
clues on any imminent changes to monetary policy stances at
major central banks.
    A trader at a Chinese bank said domestic market participants
were eagerly looking out for PBOC's policy signal as the central
bank was set to roll over maturity of a key liquidity tool this
week.
    "With tax seasons and also likely pick-up in local
government bond issuances, the medium-term lending facility
(MLF) can be easily rolled over if the PBOC chooses to do so,"
said Frances Cheung, rates strategist at OCBC Bank.
    "Money market liquidity shall stay supported as the PBOC has
tools to deploy."
    A batch of 100 billion yuan ($15.26 billion) worth of MLF,
which serves as a guide to China's benchmark lending rate, is
set to expire on Thursday. And the PBOC has kept injecting a
minimum of daily 10 billion yuan through reverse repos for 30
straight days as of Monday.
    Li Liuyang, chief currency analyst at China Merchants Bank,
said coronavirus rollouts in Europe and the United States would
remain the key factors influencing currency markets.
    "If the pandemic situation in Europe can improve quickly and
EU's recovery fund can be implemented smoothly, the European
Central Bank will start to become more concerned about the
upward inflation than the Fed, which will provide support for
the euro," he said.
    Li said the euro's recent rebound eased appreciation
pressure on the yuan's value against its trading partners and
kept the Chinese currency stuck in a 6.5 to 6.6 per dollar range
for the time being.
    The dollar languished near 2-1/2-week lows against
major peers on Monday as a decline in Treasury yields restrained
the U.S. currency.
    The global dollar index traded at 92.249 at midday,
while the offshore yuan was trading at 6.5595 per
dollar. 
    
    The yuan market at 0401 GMT: 
    
    ONSHORE SPOT:
 Item               Current  Previous  Change
 PBOC midpoint      6.5578   6.5409    -0.26%
                                       
 Spot yuan          6.5542   6.553     -0.02%
                                       
 Divergence from    -0.05%             
 midpoint*                             
 Spot change YTD                       -0.40%
 Spot change since 2005                26.28%
 revaluation                           
 
    Key indexes:
     
 Item            Current     Previous  Change
                                       
 Thomson         96.48       96.35     0.1
 Reuters/HKEX                          
 CNH index                             
 Dollar index    92.249      92.218    0.0
 
    
    
*Divergence of the dollar/yuan exchange rate. Negative number
indicates that spot yuan is trading stronger than the midpoint.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) allows the exchange rate to
rise or fall 2% from official midpoint rate it sets each
morning.

    OFFSHORE CNH MARKET   
  
 Instrument            Current   Difference
                                 from onshore
 Offshore spot yuan    6.5595    -0.08%
        *                        
 Offshore              6.7306    -2.57%
 non-deliverable                 
 forwards                        
               **                
 
*Premium for offshore spot over onshore
**Figure reflects difference from PBOC's official midpoint,
since non-deliverable forwards are settled against the midpoint.
. 

($1=6.5549 Chinese yuan)

 (Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith)