New | China’s yuan softens after markets push greenback higher

The onshore yuan softened slightly against the US dollar on Tuesday as the Chinese currency continued to trade within a tight band ever since a sharp rise in mid-March.

At 6.1997 against the greenback, the yuan weakened 12 basis points from Monday’s close.

The pullback came after the People’s Bank of China set the yuan mid price 18 basis points below Monday’s price at 6.1225 per US dollar in response to overnight US dollar strengthening on expectations the US Federal Reserve will delay any rate hike.

In China’s onshore spot market, the yuan can rise or fall by 2 percentage points from the PBOC set rate each trading day.

In the offshore yuan market, the yuan traded flat against the US dollar at 6.2040.

The Hong Kong dollar also weakened to 7.7567 against the US dollar, a 12 basis point slip since Monday’s close.