China plans greater yuan flexibility
The mainland is seeking to reduce dominance of the US dollar and curtail its own reliance on the currency of the world's largest economy
China will increase the movement of the yuan's exchange rate "appropriately" to handle the latest rounds of quantitative easing by the world's central banks, Xinhua said in an editorial.
The government of Asia's biggest economy will ensure "reasonable" monetary-base growth and keep sufficient liquidity to allow businesses to obtain loans, according to the editorial, which was also posted on the main central-government website.
"The long-run policy of the Chinese government is to increase flexibility of the renminbi, so it's still an open question whether this will signify any major change in practices," said Mark Williams, the chief Asia economist at Capital Economics in London.
"The government's view seems to be now that the renminbi is close to its fair value, there are lower risks allowing more movement."
The mainland's new leadership, headed by incoming president Xi Jinping, said last week it will retain "prudent" monetary policy and a proactive fiscal policy in 2013.
The US Federal Reserve announced last week plans to start buying US$45 billion a month of Treasury securities from January, in addition to US$40 billion a month of existing mortgage-debt purchases.
Japan's central bank expanded its asset-buying programme for the third time in four months on Thursday, increasing it to 76 trillion yen (HK$7 trillion) from 66 trillion yen.