China's financial markets in April saw a month-on-month decline in bond
issues and a sharp increase in stock indices, sources with the People's Bank of
China, the central Bank, said on Friday.
Last month saw bonds valued at
476.7 billion yuan issued on the interbank market, a decrease of 59.3 percent
from the March level. Bond prices remained largely stable amid a downward trend
due to interest rate hikes for deposits and credit extension.
According
to central bank sources, bonds valued at 2.6 trillion yuan (338 billion U.S.
dollars) were issued on China's interbank market in the first four months of
this year, a growth of 40.13 percent on the previous year.
The total
included 146.6 billion yuan worth of book-entry treasure bonds issued by the
Ministry of Finance, 2.1 trillion yuan worth of central-bank bonds, 235 billion
yuan worth of financial bonds issued by policy banks and commercial banks and
82.2 billion yuan worth of short-term bonds issued by enterprises.
Since
the beginning of the year, China's equity market has been robust, with stock
indices soaring.
The benchmark Shanghai Stock Composite Index concluded
April trading at 3,841.27 points, up 1,125.55 points, or 41.4 percent, since the
beginning of the year.
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