China's yuan opens down 0.5pc, biggest drop since 2008

SHANGHAI: China's yuan opened trade at 6.1554 per dollar on Monday, down 0.5 percent from Friday's close of 6.1260.

If the yuan remains at that level through to the close, it would be the steepest one-day decline in the Chinese currency since December 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis.

Traders have speculated in recent weeks that the People's Bank of China is intervening to weaken the yuan, in an effort to introduce more two-way volatility to the currency and discourage speculation on yuan appreciation.