Currency wars defused amid yuan's Asia rally

Singapore

CHINA is helping its Asian neighbours stay out of the global currency wars. Policymakers in the world's biggest exporter have resisted weakening the yuan as economic growth slows, seeing exchange-rate stability as key to winning global reserve-currency status from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year.

That in turn has reduced pressure on China's regional export rivals to keep their products competitive with weaker exchange rates, according to BlackRock Inc, the world's largest money manager.

"We don't expect a large depreciation of the yuan," Joel Kim, head of Asia-Pacific fixed income at BlackRock, which oversees US$4.77 trillion, said on April 21. He predicts Asian currencies will outperform pee…