China keeps loan prime rates unchanged

The over-five-year LPR, on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, also remained unchanged from 3.6 per cent earlier, according to the National Interbank Funding Centre.

Since late September, China has been announcing a series of stimulus steps to pull the economy out of a deflationary slump and back towards the government's growth target. These include monetary easing, fiscal measures and property market support.

It is believed by some quarters that China may unveil further policy intentions once Donald Trump takes office in January.

During Trump's first term as president, the yuan weakened by about 5 per cent against the US dollar in the initial round of US tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018, and fell by another 1.5 per cent a year later when trade tensions escalated.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)