Spot yuan ended marginally firmer on Friday, largely brushing aside a 0.65 percent fall in the dollar as the Chinese central bank showed no intention of allowing the yuan to appreciate in the near term. Spot yuan closed at 6.8275 on Friday, rising slightly from Thursday's close of 6.8280. The Chinese central bank fixed the yuan's daily mid-point, or reference rate, at 6.8281 versus the dollar, almost unchanged from Thursday's 6.8285.
Globally, the US dollar was back on the defensive on Friday as a bout of profit taking in growth-linked currencies seemed to have run its course with investors piling back into risk. The world's largest economy grew at an annualised rate of 3.5 percent in the July-September period, beating forecasts of a 3.3 percent rise and ending a deep slump.
On Friday, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in Shenzhen at the launch of China's ChiNext stock market, a long-awaited Nasdaq-style second board that China will stick to an appropriately loose monetary policy. "Officials reaffirmed China's loose monetary policy. That shows the stable yuan policy will not change in the near term," said a dealer at an Asian bank in Shanghai.