Yuan closes up in narrow trade, eyes on dollar trend

SHANGHAI: The Chinese yuan closed up on Wednesday after the central bank set a slightly stronger official midpoint to reflect a small fall in the dollar index the day before.

Traders said that both market players and regulators at the People's Bank of China (PBOC) are focused on tracking trends in the dollar index, given the absence of market-moving domestic factors.

Spot yuan closed at 6.2180 per dollar, or 18 pips stronger than Tuesday's close of 6.2198. Traders said banks and their clients were largely comfortable with the current level of the dollar/yuan rate, keeping intra-day trading ranges narrow.

Trading volume closed out at a decent $17.7 billion, up from Tuesday's $16 billion.