BEIJING / SHANGHAI — The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, on Thursday set its official yuan midpoint at the lowest in nearly five months to reflect sharp gains in the greenback in global markets overnight.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened to 7.0522 against the US dollar Thursday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day

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The yuan weakened by 194 pips, or 0.28 percent, weaker than the previous fix of 7.0328, and the weakest since Oct 31, 2019. 

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.

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The dollar soared across the board, hitting

multi-year highs against several major currencies, as companies and investors worried by the coronavirus outbreak rushed to the perceived safety of the US currency.

With inputs from agencies