Southeast Asia’s rush for gold is pushing prices up, but it’s not just everyday investors – central banks are buying at a ‘blistering rate’ too.

Chinese banks are heading overseas to extend yuan loans to fund Belt and Road Initiative projects

A stable exchange rate plays a key role in China’s position as a major importer and exporter, but the yuan has come under heavy pressure from the US dollar.

With yuan capital outflows at their highest in years, transfers from Hong Kong to mainland China appear to have done much to keep the currency from depreciating at much higher rates.

The weak yen, languishing at a 34-year low against the dollar, is helping fuel a tourism boom in Japan. Arrivals last month were up 60 per cent from the same period last year.

China’s yuan has faced depreciation pressure in recent weeks, largely because of the strength of the US dollar, with the result of November’s presidential election adding further uncertainty.

The city’s status as an international financial centre will be reinforced by yuan internationalisation and China’s economic transformations, according to top finance officials and industry players.

Latest Cross-Border Yuan Insight report suggests that Beijing’s efforts to challenge US dollar hegemony still face considerable hurdles, from exchange-rate fluctuations to impediments in cross-border capital flows.

Carl Tannenbaum comments on interest rate cuts and outlines concerns in the face of geopolitical tensions and global supply-chain upheavals.

Billions of dollars’ worth of investment pledges from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh gave Islamabad financial breathing room amid new bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

Roll-out provides a safe, convenient means of payment for Hongkongers spending in mainland China and mainland users in Hong Kong, HKMA says.

Bilateral trade, an important lifeline to Russia since it invaded Ukraine, is already at a record US$240 billion, with China its largest customer for crude oil.

Finance deals made through smaller Chinese banks would help ‘resolve the threat of secondary sanctions’, according to fresh findings by a Renmin University institute.

With China’s ties to Russia under stronger scrutiny from the West, banks are keeping a closer eye on transactions with links to Moscow – and China’s exporters are concerned their bottom line will suffer.

Analysts say China’s central bank, with an eye on the yuan’s stability, could let it weaken gradually, but such a move ‘could backfire to some degree’.

Out with the Zimbabwe dollar, in with the ZiG. Zimbabwe on Tuesday started circulating a new currency to replace one that has been battered by depreciation and often outright rejection by the people.

The yen has been steadily sliding for more than three years and has lost more than one-third of its value since the start of 2021.

Warning over effect on Hong Kong as yen hits 34-year low of 156.82 against US dollar after Bank of Japan held interest rates close to zero.

China’s yuan has lost more value against the US dollar as interest rate cuts have yet to materialise, leading exporters to find whatever alternative assets they can until exchange differentials subside.