Yuan set for longest weekly winning streak since Sept

SHANGHAI: China's yuan jumped to a more than two-month high against a softer dollar on Friday, with buoyant trade data lending additional support.

The gain helped extend the yuan's weekly winning streak to five, the longest since September.

The dollar dropped as global market risk appetite improved after data showed that fewer Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, with COVID-19 vaccination efforts and government stimulus leading to a further reopening of the economy.

Prior to the market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate at 6.4678 per dollar, 217 pips or 0.34% firmer than the previous fix of 6.4895.

Some market participants pointed out that Friday's fixing came in weaker than their projections and had relatively large estimate errors, a sign that the authorities might be willing to see more two-way fluctuations in the local unit before testing the key 6.45 per dollar level.

In the spot market, onshore yuan opened at 6.4655 per dollar and rose to a high of 6.4564 at one point, the strongest level since March 3. By midday, the spot yuan was changing hands at 6.4594, 37 pips firmer than the previous late session close.

If the yuan finishes the late night session at the midday level, it would have booked a fifth straight weekly gain for the holiday-shortened week.

Traders said domestic markets would pay close attention to US non-farm payroll data for more clues about the health of world's largest economy. A very robust reading could fuel more speculation on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering emergency support, altering the dollar's trajectory.

US payrolls data due at 1230 GMT will likely confirm the economy's solid path to recovery from the pandemic, analysts said. Economists expect 978,000 new US jobs for April, according to a Reuters poll.

Strong Chinese trade data also underpinned the yuan, traders said, as improvements in economic fundamentals were crucial to yuan's longer-term performance.

Export growth unexpectedly picked up in April, data showed on Friday, as the world's second-largest economy extended its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Export will be a key pillar for growth in China this year. It also helps RMB to perform well among emerging market currencies," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, expecting export growth to stay strong into the second half of this year.

At midday, the global dollar index fell to 90.866 from the previous close of 90.873, while the offshore yuan was trading at 6.4555 per dollar.