Freely trading renminbi is step in the right direction

Newton's Paul Brain is building up his exposure to the renminbi on expectations it will continue to appreciate against the US dollar.

Brain, the head of fixed income at the group, says he had begun to build positions in the renminbi even before Beijing announced it would loosen the currency’s two-year-old peg to the dollar. “Such a move seemed more and more likely in recent months. We expect to see a gradual appreciation over time,” Brain says. “We see China’s change of tack on its currency as being part of a broader process of gradually opening up its currency markets, and a freely traded yuan is certainly a big step in the right direction. “We intend to gain greater exposure to the Chinese currency as its curre...