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Yuan slides 1.3 per cent in first month as IMF reserve currency

Strong dollar amid expectations of a Fed rate hike in December, and the ECB’s decision to maintain loose monetary policies seen as main factors

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The yuan has had an inauspicious start to its membership of the prestigious SDR basket of currencies. Photo: Reuters
Cathy ZhangandLaura He

The yuan ended its first month as a member of the International Monetary Fund’s elite basket of reserve currencies with further losses.

The Chinese currency, which was inducted into the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) on October 1,

fell 0.06 per cent, or 38 basis points, to 6.7816 per US dollar as of 6pm on Tuesday in Hong Kong. In onshore trading the yuan was at 6.7725, weaker by 0.03 per cent.

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Today’s decline comes after the currency weakened by about 1.3 per cent, or 863 basis point, from September 30th to October 31st.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) fixed the yuan’s mid-point rate at 6.7734 against the US dollar today, weaker by 93 basis points from the previous fixing. The previous day, the PBOC had raised the yuan’s reference rate by 217 basis points to 6.7641.

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“The market remains in dollar bid mode as the uptrend [for the US currency] remains intact,” said Stephen Innes, a senior currency trader at Oanda, in a note on Tuesday.

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