The Chinese yuan weakened against the US dollar for the third straight day on Friday as the greenback continued to rally on fresh data that showed the US economy fared beter than expected in the first quarter.
Onshore yuan lost 0.01 per cent to 6.2097 while the offshore yuan dropped 0.11 per cent, or 66 basis points, to 6.2106 as of 10.57am.
The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint price for the yuan exchange band at a stronger level of 6.1137.
Fan Yifei, deputy governor of China’s central bank, said on Friday in a forum in Shanghai that the country will first realise yuan’s full convertibility in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone and vowed to further expand yuan’s usage in the offshore market.
The Dollar Index edged up 0.07 per cent to 95.25 as of 10.42am Hong Kong time, after the US Commerce Department said the nation’s first-quarter economic growth shrank by 0.2 per cent, up from its previous assessment of 0.7 per cent contraction.
The Hong Kong dollar strengthened 0.01 per cent to 7.7520.