The yuan was virtually unchanged on Thursday as the market appears to have reached a consensus on the currency's value, reinforced by a series of relatively stable central bank midpoints. The central bank set the Thursday midpoint at 6.2984, 34 pips stronger than Wednesday and the first day since March 30 that the midpoint has breached the psychologically important 6.30 barrier.
The fixing represents a return to the central bank's usual pattern of setting a stronger midpoint in response to a weaker dollar index overnight, following two days in which the yuan had followed the dollar.
But the market remained squarely within the 6.30-31 range it has inhabited for the last two weeks. Spot yuan traded at 6.3083 in early afternoon, two pips stronger than Wednesday's close.
Trade data released on Tuesday showed that China's trade balance was in surplus in the first quarter compared with a deficit in the first quarter of 2011, but the market's reaction was muted.