SHANGHAI, May 3: The Chinese central bank’s short forward and futures positions on the yuan totalled $28.9 billion at the end of March, little changed from February, the state news agency Xinhua reported. According to data released over the weekend, the People’s Bank of China also held $1.48 billion of long positions, Xinhua said. Holdings were primarily for serving the hedging requirements of firms with dollar debt, and commercial bank operations, the central bank said. The central bank released data on its foreign exchange derivatives holdings for the first time at the end of March. In 2015, China witnessed large scale capital outflows following an unexpected two percent depreciation of the yuan against the dollar in mid August. The central bank also changed its currency policy to target the yuan’s value against a basket of currencies rather than just the dollar. Capital outflows appear to have ebbed in recent months, however, as pressure from a rising dollar has abated and recent economic data has begun to look slightly brighter. (AGENCIES)
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