China rushes to shore up sliding yuan and stocks

China's stock exchanges and central bank rushed to defend a tumbling yuan and falling stock markets on Monday, trying to soothe investors concerned about Donald Trump's return to the White House and Beijing's ability to revive the economy.

With two weeks before Trump begins a second US presidency, his threats of big tariffs on Chinese imports have rattled the yuan, driven mainland bond yields down and got stocks off to a rough start to 2025.

On Monday, China's tightly controlled yuan weakened to its lowest in 16 months while the blue-chip stock index touched its weakest since the end of September, slipping as much as 0.9 per cent on the day before closing down 0.2 per cent. The index fell five per cent last week to clock its biggest weekly loss in more than two years.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges recently met with foreign institutions, both bourses said on Sunday, assuring investors they would continue to open up China's capital markets.

The People's Bank of China could issue more yuan bills in Hong Kong in January, stateowned news outlet Yicai reported on Monday, in a sign authorities want to absorb currency to dampen speculation. Financial News, a central bank publication, said the PBOC has the tools and the experience to react to yuan depreciation.