China’s central bank will inject $117bn into the banking system by cutting the share of deposits that commercial banks must hold in reserve, the latest effort to boost lending and halt a sharp slowdown in the economy. 

Beijing has adopted a  series of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures since the summer, but a factory survey this week showed China’s manufacturing sector  contracting  — the latest in a  string of data indicating that growth continues to slow. 

“It is clear that [the Chinese authorities] are redoubling efforts to stabilise the economy and the currency. This swift action supports our view that there won’t be a sharp deceleration in the Chinese economy this year and that fears of a major global slowdown are overdone,” said Geoffrey Yu, head of the UK investment office at UBS Wealth Management in London.