China's yuan closed almost unchanged against the dollar on Thursday as activity started to thin ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday which begins next Wednesday. The People's Bank of China set the mid-point at a record high for the third straight day but let it rise only slightly from Wednesday's fixing, signalling the government may be more willing to allow the yuan to appreciate but only at a measured pace, traders said.
Spot yuan closed at 6.5820 against the dollar compared with 6.5819 at Wednesday's close. It has now risen 3.71 percent to the dollar since its mid-June depegging. It touched an intraday low of 6.5844 and a high of 6.5818, just shy of 6.5808 hit on Monday - its highest intraday trading level since China let the yuan be publicly trade in 1994.
Offshore, benchmark one-year dollar/yuan non-deliverable forwards were bid at 6.4460 late on Thursday, up from 6.4380 at Wednesday's close. Their implied yuan appreciation in a year's time fell to 2.20 percent from 2.33 percent. Dollar/yuan offshore forwards have generally staged a lacklustre performance in recent weeks.