PBOC Sets Stronger-Than-Expected Yuan Fixing After Recent Fall
(Bloomberg) -- China set its reference rate for the yuan at a stronger-than-expected level for a third consecutive day, as it sought to keep the currency stable following a record drop last month.
The People's Bank of China set the fixing at 6.5672 per dollar, compared with the average estimate of 6.5699 in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and traders. China's financial markets reopened Thursday after a three-day break. The onshore yuan edged higher to 6.6045 per dollar, while the offshore yuan is little changed at 6.6248.
“The yuan fixing was slightly stronger than expected, which suggests the authorities are keen to keep the currency stable following the weakness seen in recent weeks,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Singapore. “With the USD weakening post the FOMC decision, we should see some pressure off the yuan in the near-term.”
The offshore and onshore yuan fell more than 4% against the dollar in April, marking their worst declines on record. The losses follow a bout of volatility in Chinese equities as the nation's Covid Zero strategy weighs on sentiment and slows economic growth.
The central bank has so far refrained from heavy-handed moves to intervene, relying instead on guiding the market with the fixing and cutting foreign-exchange reserve requirements to slow the currency's rapid slump.
Despite such measures, the yuan remains under pressure. Banks including Credit Agricole CIB and Standard Chartered Bank Plc. have recently slashed their forecasts for the yuan.
Qi Gao, a currency strategist at Scotiabank in Singapore, said he expects the yuan to trade between 6.6-6.7 per dollar in the near term.
The fixing limits the onshore yuan's moves by 2% on either side.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
