FT: Chinese household FX demand growing

As the RMB has weakened against both the US dollar, Financial Times Confidential Research finds that household appetite for FX is growing. The proportion of respondents saying they held no foreign exchange fell to 49.8 per cent in June from 53.8 per cent in January, while those saying they would not hold any, even if there were no capital controls, fell to just 28.1 per cent from 41.4 per cent. The 13.3 percentage point swing in favor of holding at least some foreign exchange is seen as clear evidence of rising demand at the household level for non-renminbi assets. This suggests a growing number of urban households are looking to shift some of their savings out of renminbi.