China’s yuan higher

SHANGHAI: China’s yuan inched higher against the dollar on Friday but remained on course to snap a record weekly winning streak, and post its biggest slump in more than a year, reflecting a broadly firmer greenback in light of the widening Middle East conflict.

The decision by the People’s Bank of China, the nation’s central bank, to remove the foreign exchange risk reserves for forward contracts also encouraged corporate dollar demand in the derivatives market.

The onshore yuan fetched 6.9005 per dollar as of 0400 GMT, up 0.17 percent from the previous close.

If it finishes the late night session at the midday level, it would have lost 0.54 percent to the dollar, snapping 13 straight weeks of gains, the longest since 2012.