SHANGHAI: China’s yuan slipped against the dollar on Monday after the official midpoint snapped five straight sessions of strengthening, while investors anxiously await manufacturing activity data for more guidance.

China is scheduled to release the closely watched purchasing managers index for November this week. The data is considered a leading indicator of the health of the world’s second-largest economy after a string of mixed data in October pointed to an uneven and bumpy recovery path.

Prior to market opening, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band, at 7.1159 per dollar, 8 pips weaker than the previous fix of 7.1151.

Monday’s fixing was the first weakening since Nov. 17, however, it continued to come in firmer than market participants had projected, traders and analysts said, noting that the trend of setting the daily midpoint rate with strengthening bias has persisted for months.

Monday’s midpoint was 302 pips stronger than Reuters estimate of 7.1461.