It's Official: China Is The "Mystery" Daily Buyer Of Billions Of Euros

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/29/2011

Over the past two weeks, we have been suggesting, tongue in cheekily, that despite the relentless desires of everyone to sell the EUR, it has continued to drift higher, due to some inexplicable force with bottomless pockets, which, after some deductive logic, we assumed was China. It turns out we were correct. Naturally, figuring out what China does with its $3 trillion in foreign reserves is sometimes more complex than brain surgery (except what it does every time it sees a barrel of oil for sale: then it is pretty much guaranteed what it will do). But when it comes to preserving its 3 rounds of horrendous European down payments, it was pretty logical that China would do everything in its power to prevent a waterfall effect that would result in Europe imploding in a ball of illiquid singularity. The WSJ has confirmed that China's SAFE is actively doing all it can to transfer billions of its dollar-denominated holdings into euros. And while this does not mean the EUR is the new reserve currency, it certainly means that China has now become the deciding factor as to just who is (much to the chagrin of Markel, and delight of Geithner... for the time being).

From the WSJ:

China's deep pockets are momentarily keeping the euro supported.

But with Greece's financial future still uncertain even after lawmakers passed an austerity package on Wednesday, and the single currency's long-term prospects far from assured, Beijing risks learning a lesson about trying to fight a market more inclined to sell than buy.

For months, whispers of "Asian official buying" have permeated markets when the euro fell below certain levels. That talk has kept euro/dollar hemmed into a tight seven-cent range since late May, even as fears of a Greek default make traders disinclined to hold the single currency.

China, the world's biggest holder of foreign-exchange reserves, has pledged financial support to the distressed euro-zone periphery while touting its economic links to Europe.

And with the PBoC not having a bloated balance sheet, courtesy of trillions of Chinese bad debt being held off balance sheet, nobody dares to step in front of a train whose EUR buying capacity is, at least in theory, limited only by the notional amount of how much garbage America's gadget-addicted middle class will buy from a very mercantilist China.

Full story HERE