SHANGHAI: The yuan eased against the dollar on Friday as a Reuters poll showed the Chinese currency wass expected to weaken 2.5 percent over the coming year as the dollar rallies and the China's economy cools.
The People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.5793 per dollar prior to market open, 0.16 percent weaker than the previous fix 6.5688.
Spot yuan opened at 6.5880 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.5844 at midday, easing 0.03 percent from the previous close.
If the yuan closes around the midday level, it will soften 0.3 percent this week after posting the second largest monthly fall on record of 1.6 percent in May.
"The market is buying dollars in the morning as it anxiously awaits a US job report that could give a boost to the dollar," said a trader at a Chinese commercial bank in China.
"We expect the yuan to fall further but we are not so sure of when given that the movement of the dollar is hard to predict."
Investors are piling up bets to profit from a fall in the Chinese currency with a variety of creative strategies, raising the risk of a fresh bout of yuan volatility that churned global markets just a few months ago.
The offshore yuan was trading 0.07 percent softer than the onshore spot at 6.5893 per dollar.
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