Services trade reports solid expansion

China's services trade saw steady growth in the first quarter of the year, including a steep increase in the trade of travel-related services, official data showed on Tuesday. The country's services trade totaled 1.97 trillion yuan ($273.5 billion) during the period, up 8.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Services exports reached 835.15 billion yuan, up 12.2 percent from a year earlier, and services imports rose 6.2 percent to 1.14 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 303.88 billion yuan.

Cultural sector sees steady growth in Q1

Major enterprises in China's cultural sector and related industries saw steady growth in both revenue and profits during the first three months of the year, official data showed on Tuesday. The 80,000 surveyed enterprises raked in nearly 3.4 trillion yuan ($470 billion) in combined revenue in the first quarter, up 6.2 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than the full-year figure for 2024, the bureau said. The firms' profits rose 29.1 percent year-on-year to 274.4 billion yuan, driven by robust expansion in digital content services, internet information services, online culture and entertainment platforms, as well as the manufacturing and sales of information service terminals.

Yuan strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 14 pips to 7.2029 against the US dollar on Tuesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.