Chinese yuan continues to weaken against USD

Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-01 12:40:16|Editor: Liangyu
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BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, continued to weaken against the U.S. dollar Thursday.

The central parity rate weakened 58 basis points to 6.3352 against the U.S. dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).

It followed a weakening of 148 basis points on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks lifted the greenback.

The dollar strength came after Powell, in his first Congress testimony, said that despite recent volatility of the financial market, Fed governors still plan on raising rates several times in 2018.

Analysts said Powell's hawkish comments bolstered market speculation for as many as three rate-hikes later this year.

Before Wednesday, the yuan had strengthened against the dollar for three trading days in a row.

Despite the latest weakening, the CFETS RMB Index, which measures the yuan's strength relative to a basket of currencies, came in at 96.44 at the end of February, up 0.65 percent from a month earlier.

The index compares the yuan to the value of 24 currencies, including the U.S. dollar, euro and Japanese yen.

In February, an index that measures the yuan against the Bank for International Settlements currency basket went up 2.3 percent to 98.98, while against the Special Drawing Rights basket it strengthened 0.64 percent to 97.56, according to the CFETS.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.

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