New | PBOC sets China yuan at one-month low after IMF says currency 'no longer undervalued'

China’s central bank set the benchmark midpoint rate of its currency at the weakest level in a month against the US dollar on Wednesday, after the International Monetary Fund said in its report that the currency is no longer undervalued.

The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.1198 against the dollar, the weakest level since April 28. Traders are allowed to buy or sell the currency at a level 2 per cent above or below the midpoint rate on a daily basis.

The onshore yuan lost 0.03 per cent, or 19 basis points, to 6.2056 as of 11 am in the spot market, while the offshore yuan strengthened 0.02 per cent, or 15 pips, to 6.2079.

“The substantial real effective appreciation over the past year has brought the exchange rate to a level that is no longer undervalued,” the IMF said in its latest review of the Chinese economy released on Tuesday.

The Hong Kong dollar was unchanged on Wednesday at 7.7524 against the US dollar.

READ MORE: China's yuan no longer undervalued, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that China's yuan was no longer undervalued after a "significant" appreciation over the past 12 months - the agency's first such finding in more than a decade.