Services trade grows in first half

China's services trade expanded 8.3 percent year-on-year in the first half, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. The total value of service imports and exports reached nearly 3.78 trillion yuan ($556.56 billion) from January to June this year. Throughout the period, travel service exports grew at the fastest rate among the top five service export categories, rising 31.1 percent to 229.2 billion yuan.

Yuan strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 28 pips to 6.7889 against the US dollar on Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

XINHUA-CHINA DAILY