Home price declines ease in January

China's housing market showed signs of improvement in January as home price declines in 70 large and medium-sized cities generally narrowed from the previous month, official data showed on Friday. In the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, prices of newly built homes edged down 0.3 percent month-on-month in January, while prices of second-hand homes slipped 0.5 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Yuan strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 59 pips to 6.9398 against the US dollar on Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.