China’s yuan finds footing near 9-month lows as Beijing slows slide

HONG KONG: China’s battered yuan found respite on Tuesday as efforts by authorities to slow its decline gained some traction although pressure from rapidly rising US yields and worries about the economy continue to weigh on the currency.

Beijing’s latest moves to stabilise the yuan, which is down around 5% this year versus the dollar, included swaps by state-owned banks in offshore markets to suck out yuan and raise the cost of shorting the currency.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also set a stronger than-expected daily yuan fixing, 1,105 pips stronger than market estimates, which was the biggest deviation since late June, when the central bank began setting firmer daily guidance.

That helped the offshore yuan settle on the stronger side of 7.3 per dollar, with both onshore and offshore levels coming off Monday’s nine-month lows.

“The daily fixing has helped to limit the losses on the yuan due to China’s widening yield spreads with the US, and the the recent weak economic ,” said Alvin Tan, head of Asia currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

“The sharply higher funding costs, along with persistently stronger-than-expected daily fixings, should help keep the offshore yuan from (weakening) past 7.30 in the near-term,” said Tan.

The PBOC set the midpoint rate, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band, at 7.1992 per US dollar prior to market open.

China’s yuan firms after PBOC sets higher-than-expected daily fixing

Spot yuan rallied as far as 7.2615 per dollar but was changing hands at 7.2870 at midday, 54 pips weaker than the previous late session close and 1.22% weaker than the midpoint.

US Treasury 10-year yields hit highs last seen in 2007 on Monday on a growing view the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer amid a resilient US economy.

Their premium over China 10-year yields reached more than 180 basis points (bps), the widest since 2007 and another factor weighing on the yen, yuan and other regional currencies due to concerns about capital outflows.

The offshore yuan was trading 0.05% weaker than the onshore spot at 7.2907 per dollar.

Meanwhile, interbank rates in offshore yuan markets surged as the swaps by state banks pushed forward points on dollar/yuan higher across the curve. Two-week CNH HIBOR rose above 5%, the highest levels since October 2018.