Everything You Need to Know About China's Economy on Friday (Aug. 30)
Your Daily & Trustworthy Updates on the Chinese Economy
Subscribe for free |View in your browser |Tweet@TIANDongdong
Good Friday! This is TIAN in Beijing.
Welcome to monitor the pulse of China’s economy together with me.
DRIVING THE DAY, German carmaker BMW Group will accelerate the development of autonomous driving technology with new facilities to be launched later this year at its research and development center in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.
The Shenyang R&D center plans to open an autonomous driving data processing center and an autonomous driving test workshop in September and December this year, BMW Group said.
The data processing center will help to efficiently process autonomous driving test data, while the autonomous driving test workshop will primarily validate autonomous driving functions for new local models.
The Chinese R&D team will expand the possibilities and limits of autonomous driving technology and push for the realization of higher levels of autonomous driving technology, the carmaker said.
Patrick Mueller, vice president of the BMW Brilliance R&D Center, said that BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. will strengthen cooperation with Shenyang in the future in areas such as vehicle testing, information sharing, and formulating autonomous driving policies and regulations.
MEANWHILE, the value of China's international trade in goods and services reached approximately 4.24 trillion yuan in July 2024, marking an increase of 12 percent year on year, official data showed on Friday.
In U.S. dollar terms, the country's exports and imports of goods and services amounted to 317.5 billion U.S. dollars and 276.4 billion dollars, respectively, recording a surplus of 41.1 billion dollars, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.
The export value of goods reached nearly 2.04 trillion yuan while the import value of goods totaled 1.6 trillion yuan, resulting in a surplus of 431.6 billion yuan.
The value of exported services amounted to 228.8 billion yuan and the value of imported services stood at 367.1 billion yuan, producing a deficit of 138.2 billion yuan.
IN TODAY'S FINANCIAL MARKET,
Shanghai Composite Index Rose 0.68% on Friday
China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (000001.SH) gained 0.68% on Friday, while the Shenzhen Component Index (399001.SZ) rose 2.38%.
Shanghai’s tech-heavy STAR 50 Index (000688.SH) gained 2.14% for the day, while Shenzhen’s similar ChiNext Index (399006.SZ) rose 2.53%.
Chinese yuan strengthens to 7.1124 against USD Friday
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 175 pips to 7.1124 against the U.S. dollar Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
China's benchmark interbank gold prices mixed Friday
According to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the benchmark price for gold that is 99.95 percent pure or above remained flat at 574.6 yuan (about 80.79 U.S. dollars) per gram.
The price for gold that is 99.99 percent pure or above went up 1.57 yuan from the previous trading day to 574.9 yuan.
China's central bank conducts reverse repos Friday
China's central bank conducted 30.1 billion yuan (about 4.23 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.7 percent Friday.
The move aims to keep liquidity reasonable and ample in the banking system at the end of the month, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closes 1.14 pct higher
Hong Kong stock market ended higher on Friday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 1.14 percent to close at 17,989.07 points.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 1.34 percent to end at 6,331.14 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 2.87 percent to end at 3,560.61 points.
AT THE END OF TODAY'S SHARING, LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR DAILY FUTURES:
Cotton futures closed lower Friday in daytime trading on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE).
The most active cotton contract for January 2025 delivery lost 5 yuan (about 70.3 U.S. cents) to close at 13,750 yuan per tonne.
On Friday, the total trading volume for six listed cotton futures contracts on the ZCE was 358,264.0 lots with a turnover of 24.7 billion yuan.
Sugar futures closed higher Friday in daytime trading on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.
The most active sugar contract for January 2025 delivery gained 8 yuan (1.12 U.S. dollars) to close at 5,652 yuan per tonne.
On Friday, the total trading volume for six listed sugar futures contracts on the ZCE was 306,505.0 lots with a turnover of 17.37 billion yuan.
Iron ore futures closed lower on Friday in daytime trading at the Dalian Commodity Exchange.
The most active iron ore contract for January 2025 delivery dipped 4 yuan (about 56 U.S. cents) to close at 754 yuan per tonne.
On Friday, the total trading volume of 12 listed iron ore futures contracts on the exchange was 576,408 lots, with a turnover of about 43.61 billion yuan.
No.1 soybean futures closed lower on Friday in daytime trading at the Dalian Commodity Exchange.
The most active No.1 soybean contract for January 2025 delivery dipped 1 yuan (about 14 U.S. cents) to close at 4,292 yuan per tonne.
On Friday, the total trading volume of six listed No.1 soybean futures contracts on the exchange was 65,810 lots, with a turnover of about 2.83 billion yuan.
About the Newsletter:
Ran by TIAN Dongdong, this newsletter features daily, trustworthy content on China's economy and regularly updates the insights of Chinese youth on Sino-US relations. Having worked in Brussels, London, Cairo, and Tripoli for Chinese media as correspondent for several years, TIAN is now based in Beijing.