Latest Update from People's Bank of China

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has issued one year medium-term lending (MLF) facility at 2.95% and by doing so, will be injecting CNY 700 billion. Rates are unchanged from previous operation (and with this, rates are now unchanged for the fourth straight month).

PBOC has also set USD/CNY reference rate for today (17 Aug) at 6.9362 vs Friday's 6.9405.

Let’s see how the currencies reacted to this news:

• USD/CNY looks to extend further below 6.9500 and appears under pressure.

• AUD/USD is observed to be building on Friday’s gains but remain capped below 0.7200 (as a result of the ongoing US-China tension). Daily chart is showing a bullish cross of the 100 and 200 day Simple Moving Average (SMA).