SHANGHAI: China’s yuan was little moved on Thursday, with market participants waiting for US inflation data due later in the day and Chinese credit data expected sometime soon.
An executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday that will prohibit some new US investment in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips, did not elicit much market reaction for the yuan, traders and analysts said.
“The range of restrictions will be relatively narrow and its impact on capital inflows to China and the yuan should prove to be limited,” said Ken Cheung Kin Tai, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank.
The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band, at 7.1576 per US dollar.
That was 12 pips firmer than the previous fix of 7.1588.
The fix continued to come in stronger than expectations, a sign that market participants have interpreted as authorities’ discomfort over yuan weakness.
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Thursday’s official guidance was 447 pips firmer than a Reuters’ estimate of 7.2023.
In the spot market, the onshore yuan opened at 7.2060 per dollar and was changing hands at 7.2102 at midday, 12 pips stronger than the previous late session close.
Maybank analysts said in a note that while the US Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle is expected to come to an end soon, data such as the US CPI figures out on Thursday could still upend those expectations and potentially affect the yuan in the near-term.
As of midday, the global dollar index was trading at 102.466, down from its previous close of 102.49.
Offshore yuan was trading 127 pips weaker than onshore spot at 7.2229 per dollar.
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