The yuan ended down slightly against the dollar on Friday as the US currency rallied, though traders said a relatively strong central bank midpoint kept losses in check. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of major currencies dominated by the euro, stayed near a two-year high of 83.829 hit the day before as concerns about a slowing global economy prompted investors to seek safety.
But the People's Bank of China (PBOC) appears to be determined to keep the yuan largely stable, fixing its daily midpoint at 6.3247 per dollar on Friday, only slightly weaker than 6.3215 the day before. Spot yuan closed at 6.3789 per dollar, down slightly from Thursday's close of 6.3733. The currency has persistently traded below the PBOC's midpoint recently.
Offshore one-year non-deliverable yuan forward contracts changed hands at 6.4230 on Friday afternoon to imply yuan depreciation of 0.69 percent against the dollar in the next 12 months based on spot yuan's closing rate.