China said on Thursday it has launched a long-awaited market-making system for the yuan's trade against foreign currencies, in a step towards greater flexibility for the rigidly held local unit.
"China will introduce a market maker system now, as a complementary measure to further develop the interbank foreign exchange market and improve the yuan's exchange rate formation mechanism," the forex watchdog said on its official Web site (www.safe.gov.cn).
Beijing revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent on July 21, replacing its 11-year-old dollar peg with a system that permits the currency to rise or fall by 0.3 percent a day against the dollar.