MW: China raises bank reserve requirement by 0.5 point
By V. Phani Kumar
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- The Reserve Bank of China on Friday announced a 0.5 percentage point increase in commercial banks' reserve requirement ratio for its sixth such increase this year. The increase will be effective Dec. 20. The increase comes a day ahead of Beijing's release of a slew of economic data for November, including inflation, which is expected by economists to have accelerated 4.6% from the year-earlier period, compared to a 4.4% increase in October. Some economists, including those at HSBC, said an interest rate increase was also imminent.
