Wider yuan trading band seen in China push for reserve status

Hong Kong

CHINA'S quest to get the yuan recognised as a reserve currency is fuelling expectations that trading limits will be relaxed this year, a largely symbolic move as the government tightens its grip on the exchange rate.

Of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg in the past two weeks, 14 forecast the trading band will be widened in 2015, up from eight out of 22 in a January poll. While the monetary authority currently allows the currency to diverge a maximum 2 per cent from a reference rate, the interbank exchange rate has stayed so close to 6.2 a US dollar since March 19 that National Australia Bank has called it a de facto peg.