Chinese yuan’s fall could affect Australian education, properties, commodities
China’s yuan has been devaluating for three straight days. And while Chinese officials are positive that the currency will not fall further, other economies are feeling its unfavourable effects. According to reports, the currency’s fall may have a negative impact on Australia’s property market and education system.
Investors should be far from feeling nonchalant about China’s share market crash, as it could dwindle the world’s second-biggest economy. Albert Kyle, finance professor at Maryland University, commented to the The Australian that the devaluation was due to China’s devitalising economic growth and stock market crash, and unfortunately, a lot worse could happen.
This week, Chinese authorities handled a 4.5 percent devaluation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar due to a more market-oriented foreign exchange policy. In a statement released by the Centre for International Financial Regulation, Kyle added that falling asset values in China and a lower exchange rate could cause outbound investments in the property sector. Properties in Sydney and Melbourne could be affected the most since there was a boom on the back of investor demand.
The devaluation could also limit the prices that Chinese businesses pay for Australian services, including the Chinese demand for education in Australia.
“In this very short-term window, it is probably increasing the demand for housing in Australia by Chinese investors temporarily. But if you fast-forward to a year from now, if you didn’t get your money out of China today, it is probably too late. In a year from now you are probably in such a belt-tightening mode and prices are so low in China that you probably can’t sell the assets in China to buy the Australian ones,” Kyle explained.
Meanwhile in the Australian commodity markets, the Australian Financial Review reported that analysts are “overreacting” on yuan’s devaluation. UBS commodities analyst Daniel Morgan commented that it will only have a “minor effect.”
“Some people are worried that this may be a new and ongoing bearish driver for commodity markets. This is another bearish catalyst, but how much of commodity trade is going to contract because of this? Not much,” he told the publication.
Morgan added that coal and aluminium will take the bout, while iron ore will take a lesser hit because of its big Chinese domestic base.
The mining sector of China’s neighbour Russia seems to be unaffected by the falling Chinese yuan, especially the junior mining companies, especially Amur Minerals Corporation ( London AIM: AMC ). Amur is a developing mine situated in the Amur Oblast Region in the Russian Far East. The company shifted from being an exploration company to an actual production company after being awarded a mining licence on May 22 earlier this year.
At the moment, the company is building its own smelter to process ore in its Kun-Manie deposit, which is considered to be one of the top 20 nickel-sulphide deposits in the world. Since the company has yet to produce nickel or copper, the recent fall of the Chinese yuan will not have any direct effect to the company.
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