SteelOrbis Shanghai
On December 3, the Chinese currency, the renminbi (RMB), rose by 25 basis points to 6.8502 against the US dollar on the inter-bank foreign exchange market, marking an end to the slide it had registered over four consecutive trading days.
However, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) announced that on December 3 the intra-day RMB/USD exchange rate stuck firmly to 6.8845, posting a maximum fluctuation of 0.5 percent. It is not until the closing of the market that the RMB jumped up to 6.8827 against the US dollar, down 43 basis points compared with the previous day.
Experts from Standard Chartered PLC say that the depreciation of the RMB will continue during the first half of 2009. Such depreciation would be expected to benefit China's steel exports, while it would also mean that China's imports of iron ore would rise in price.