Yuan little changed

China's yuan was little changed against the dollar on Tuesday, as the central bank appears to prefer keeping it stable by intervening in the market via state-owned banks. The "redback" has outperformed most other Asian currencies and has gained 2.2 percent so far this year amid a volatile global economic environment, raising concerns that a stronger yuan will hurt China's exporters.
China's Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that a fast pace of yuan appreciation had squeezed exporters' profits and it was difficult for the world's second-largest economy to achieve its 8 percent trade growth target this year. Spot yuan traded at 6.0915 near midday, virtually unchanged from the previous close. It traded within a very tight range between 6.0920 and 6.0915 in the morning. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) fixed the yuan's midpoint at 6.1317, some 0.02 percent stronger than the previous day's 6.1332 to reflect a decline in the global dollar index.