BEIJING, March 17: China will gradually relax controls over the import and export of gold and allow more foreign access to domestic futures markets, the central bank said on Friday in a lengthy announcement of new financial reforms.

China has revamped its futures regulations to allow foreign institutions to participate in financial futures, the first of which -- stock index futures -- were supposed to have been launched earlier this year. Currency futures are also in the works.

The new regulations, which take effect on April 15, 2007 no longer prohibit financial institutions from conducting, raising funds for or offering securities for futures trading, Xinhua News Agency said separately late on Friday.

China's banks and firms also face more risk since China in July 2005 abandoned a decade-long peg to the US dollar and pledged to manage the yuan against a basket of currencies.—Reuters