The yuan ended down against the dollar on Monday after the mid-point barely budged, underscoring the central bank's intention to keep the yuan stable in the near term after it raised lender's reserve requirements. The PBOC set the mid-point only one pip weaker, which dealers said showed China may wish to keep the yuan around recent levels during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United Stats from January 18 to 20.
Spot yuan closed at 6.5930 versus the dollar, down from Friday's close of 6.5900 and having risen 3.55 percent since its mid-June depegging. The PBOC's mid-point snapped four day's of rises and eased off a record high. It was fixed at 6.5897 on Monday, little changed from Friday's 6.5896.
One-year dollar/yuan NDFs failed to break the 6.42 per dollar mark for the second time in the last three months last week due to lack of fresh inflows and growing uncertainty on how much Beijing would let the currency rise this year. Benchmark one-year non-deliverable dollar/yuan forwards were bid at 6.4630, up from Friday's close of 6.4370. Their implied yuan appreciation in a year's time fell slightly to 1.96 percent from 2.37 percent.