Manning the Renminbi Barricade: Navigating FX Markets Amid Chinese Defenses

FX Daily: Manning the renminbi barricade

In quiet summer FX markets, the top story remains Chinese authorities' defence of the renminbi, This stands to be a long campaign given that USD/CNY is trading near 7.30 for good reason. Elsewhere, tech stocks are making US equities look bid even though steadily higher US Treasury yields pose a challenge. And looks out for BRICS expansion news today.

 

USD: 'We've got tech stocks'

US equity markets continue to outperform. This seems largely down to the rally in tech stocks on the AI bandwagon, where Nvidia's 2Q results are widely anticipated for tomorrow. US equity performance is adding to the sense of 'US exceptionalism', backed also by better growth numbers and a central bank that has more reason than most to stay hawkish late into its tightening cycle. There is only second-tier US macro data today, but with US Treasury yields continuing to push higher, headwinds to the equity rally are growing, and temporarily parking funds in the dollar paying 5.30% in overnight rates doesn't seem like a bad idea. Equally, we expect the dollar to stay largely bid into Friday's Jackson Hole speech from Fed Chair, Jay Powell.

Two other highlights today. The first is the People's Bank of China's battle to keep USD/CNY under the 7.30 area. In addition to representing their displeasure with USD/CNY levels by printing very low onshore fixings (7.1992 last night), yesterday it seemed as though the focus was on the funding side where 1m CNH implied yields spiked over 5% (the highest since 2018) making it more expensive to run CNH short positions. As mentioned recently, Chinese FX intervention is opaque, but another measure to support the renminbi would be cutting the required reserves on FX deposits. Brief dips in USD/CNH see the dollar offered across the board, but with Chinese authorities cutting official interest rates, we suspect any CNH gains will be limited and temporary.

Also today we see the start of the BRICS summit in South Africa. Expansion tops the agenda and names in the frame we think could be the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bangladesh - all of which joined the BRICS New Development Bank in 2021. It would be a massive surprise were Saudi Arabia to join the grouping - which would inevitably lead to speculation over oil being priced in non-dollar currencies and a headline that may temporarily hit the dollar.

DXY looks very comfortable within the 102.70-103.70 range.