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Friday, July 20, 2018, 21:45
China sets yuan midpoint at weakest in a year
By Agencies
Friday, July 20, 2018, 21:45 By Agencies

This Aug 7, 2011 picture shows the headquarters of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, in Beijing. (MARK RALSTON / AFP)

SHANGHAI - China's central bank lowered its yuan midpoint for the seventh straight trading day to 6.7671 per dollar on Friday, the weakest in a year, reflecting sharp losses in the currency a day earlier.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) fixed the yuan midpoint 605 pips or 0.9 percent weaker than the previous fix of 6.7066. The yuan turned sharply lower after the move, sinking as much as 0.7 percent to 6.8367 per dollar in offshore trading. The currency pared losses in both onshore and overseas markets.

Friday's fixing was the lowest since July 14, 2017, while the move was the biggest one-day weakening in percentage terms since June 27, 2016.

READ MORE: PBOC chief: Yuan's exchange rate to remain basically stable

The yuan slid 0.19 percent to 6.7927 in onshore trading, taking its loss from its March high to more than 8 percent. The benchmark Shanghai stock gauge dropped 0.1 percent in a sixth day of losses, while the yield on 10-year government debt was little changed at 3.44 percent, close to the lowest since April 2017.

Expectations that the PBOC would loosen its monetary policy to shore up a slowing economy are also weighing on the yuan. The nation will keep liquidity ample and maintain growth in credit supply, Ruan Jianhong, the director of the central bank’s statistics department, wrote in the central bank-backed newspaper Financial News.

The government has made full preparation and preliminary plans for risks with cross-border capital flows, Wang Chunying, spokeswoman for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China’s top currency regulator, said Thursday. The economy is resilient and provides a foundation for stability in the foreign-exchange market, she added.


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