Hours after the Treasury Department stopped short of declaring China a currency manipulator, the yuan broke past this year’s low to its weakest level since January 2017.
While the outcome of the report wasn’t a surprise, the currency had traded in a tight range near the mid-August low in the days leading up to its publication, helping to buoy risk sentiment globally. On Thursday, the People’s Bank of China weakened the fixing by 0.25 percent, and the yuan followed suit, dropping as as much as 0.3 percent to 6.9422 per dollar.
The renewed decline is likely to intensify debate over when the yuan may weaken past the key psychological level of 7. The nation’s stocks extended their downward spiral, with the Shanghai benchmark sinking to a fresh four-year low, while the yield on 10-year government debt dropped to its lowest level in two months.
Hours after the Treasury Department stopped short of declaring China a currency manipulator, the yuan broke past this year’s low to its weakest level since January 2017.
While the outcome of the report wasn’t a surprise, the currency had traded in a tight range near the mid-August low in the days leading up to its publication, helping to buoy risk sentiment globally. On Thursday, the People’s Bank of China weakened the fixing by 0.25 percent, and the yuan followed suit, dropping as as much as 0.3 percent to 6.9422 per dollar.
The renewed decline is likely to intensify debate over when the yuan may weaken past the key psychological level of 7. The nation’s stocks extended their downward spiral, with the Shanghai benchmark sinking to a fresh four-year low, while the yield on 10-year government debt dropped to its lowest level in two months.
