China lifts yuan midpoint guidance for first time in seven days to reflect dollar weakness

SHANGHAI: China lifted on Friday its official yuan midpoint guidance fix for the first time in seven days, to reflect broad dollar weakness in global markets.

Prior to the market open, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the rate CNY=PBOC, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2 per cent band, at 7.2087 per dollar.

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That was 5 pips firmer than the previous fix and 1,017 pips firmer than a Reuters’ estimate CNY=RTRS of 7.3104.

The PBOC has slightly loosened its grip on the currency this week by allowing official guidance to weaken past the key threshold of 7.2 to the dollar, although it came in much stronger than market projections, in what traders and analysts interpreted as an official attempt to keep the yuan steady.

In overseas markets, the dollar fell against its major peers as markets digested President Donald Trump’s dramatic reversal on tariffs.