New | China’s yuan strengthens for third day; PBOC sets midpoint 30 bp lower

Chinese currency strengthened on Thursday for the third day in a row as dollar retreated further amid a discouraging US retail sales figure.

The stronger onshore yuan spot price came even as the People’s Bank of China set the benchmark mid point rate at 30 pips weaker at 6.1093.

The onshore yuan strengthened 0.04 per cent, or 26 basis points, to 6.2020, while the offshore yuan lost 0.02 per cent, or 12 pips, to 6.2016 as of 11:30 am. The gap between onshore and offshore spot price on Thursday morning was the narrowest since early January.

When the offshore yuan first started active trading in early 2010, it commanded a strong premium to the onshore yuan. Then in late 2011, when fears of hard landing in China gripped the markets, the offshore yuan swung to a discount to onshore yuan.

“Now, this volatility and discrepancy is gone. Both CNH and CNY are trading at about the same level in the spot market. This is seen as an encouraging sign of growing depth and liquidity in the CNH spot market,” Heng Koon How, Credit Suisse Senior Currency Strategist, said in a research note.

The dollar retreated overnight after the US reported no growth in April retail sales from the previous months and import prices fell more than expected. The US dollar index touched its weakest level in four months on Wednesday.