The central bank has published its comprehensive report on financial market operations for August 2026, covering activity across money, bond, derivative, bill, gold, foreign exchange, and equity markets.
Money Market Activity
In August 2026, daily average interbank lending volume reached 316.06 billion yuan, down 24.6% year-on-year, while daily average bond repurchase turnover in the interbank market stood at 6.5 trillion yuan, a decline of 14.8% compared with the same period last year. At the end of August, outstanding interbank lending balances totaled 0.9 trillion yuan, with interbank bond repurchase balances at 9.6 trillion yuan.
The monthly weighted average rate for overnight pledged repos among deposit-taking banks on government bonds (DR001) was 1.38% in August, down 1 basis point from July, while the DR007 rate averaged 1.40%, down 3 basis points. The overnight pledged repo rate for the broader interbank market (R001) averaged 1.40%, a decline of 2 basis points month-on-month. The average daily spread between DR001 and the central bank's 7-day reverse repo policy rate was negative 2 basis points, while the R001-DR001 spread averaged 2 basis points.
Bond Market Trends
Government bond net financing totaled 1,009.73 billion yuan in August, down 357.46 billion yuan year-on-year, while corporate bond net financing reached 271.25 billion yuan, up 137.40 billion yuan year-on-year. Total bond market custody balances reached 209.0 trillion yuan at the end of the month.
Cash bond market turnover hit 39.2 trillion yuan in August, up 4.8% year-on-year, with the interbank bond market cash bond turnover rate at 18.3%, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous month. The bid-ask spread for the active 10-year government bond was 0.15 basis points. At the end of August, the 10-year government bond yield stood at 1.69%, with the yield spread between 10-year and 1-year bonds at 47 basis points, narrowing by 10 basis points month-on-month. The yield gap between 3-year AAA-rated medium-term notes and 3-year government bonds widened by 3 basis points to 43 basis points, before adjusting for bond tax policies. During the first eight months of 2026, panda bond issuance totaled 213.98 billion yuan, with 29 new overseas institutions entering the interbank bond market.
Derivatives Market Overview
The interbank yuan derivatives market recorded turnover of 6.9 trillion yuan in August, up 17.0% year-on-year. At the end of the month, the average closing price of 1-year FR007 interest rate swaps stood at 1.43%, down 1 basis point month-on-month. Treasury bond futures market turnover reached 11.9 trillion yuan in August, up 12.0% year-on-year, with open interest of 896,000 contracts at month-end, a 62.0% increase year-on-year. The closing price of the main 10-year treasury bond futures contract was 109.4 yuan, essentially unchanged from the previous month.
Bill Market Performance
In August, commercial bill acceptance volume reached 3.4 trillion yuan, with discounting volume at 2.5 trillion yuan. By the end of August, outstanding commercial bill acceptance balances totaled 22.3 trillion yuan, up 10.3% year-on-year, while discount balances reached 17.8 trillion yuan, up 13.3%. Small and micro enterprises accounted for 93.5% of all bill-issuing companies, representing 70.4% of total issuance volume, while these enterprises comprised 96.6% of all discounting entities and handled 74.1% of total discounting volume.
Gold Market Conditions
The Shanghai Gold Exchange's Au(T+D) contract closed at 961.1 yuan per gram at the end of August, up 8.6% from the previous month. Gold trading on the Shanghai Gold Exchange reached 6,707.3 tons in August, up 66.9% year-on-year, while Shanghai Futures Exchange gold volume hit 17,000 tons, an increase of 71.5%.
Foreign Exchange Market
The onshore yuan closed at 6.7198 against the US dollar at the end of August, appreciating 0.41% from the previous month-end. The CFETS RMB exchange rate index stood at 101.87, depreciating 0.31% month-on-month.
Equity Market Snapshot
The Shanghai Composite Index closed August at 3,986.3 points, up 4.0% month-on-month, while the Shenzhen Component Index rose 3.2% to 14,015.0 points. Average daily turnover across the two exchanges reached 2,241.45 billion yuan in August, down 16.5% from July.
Interbank Bond Holder Structure
At the end of August, the interbank bond market comprised 3,751 institutional members, all financial institutions. The top 50 investors held 54.2% of corporate credit bonds, with holdings concentrated among large state-owned commercial banks' proprietary desks, public fund asset management arms, and trust company asset management units. The top 200 investors accounted for 85.3% of holdings. Individual bonds averaged 12 holders, with a median of 12, a maximum of 128, and a minimum of 1, with 87.4% of bonds having within 20 holders. By trading volume, the top 50 investors accounted for 62.3% of corporate credit bond transactions, concentrated among securities firms, joint-stock commercial banks, and fund management companies, while the top 200 investors represented 91.9% of trading activity.
Data sources include the China Securities Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China Central Depository & Clearing Co., China Foreign Exchange Trade System, Shanghai Clearing House, Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange, Shanghai Gold Exchange, and major stock exchanges.
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