SHANGHAI: China’s yuan slipped against the dollar on Monday as investors returned from the week-long Lunar New Year break and caught up with a strong US currency, but losses were limited by signs of encouraging holiday spending.

The latest US data showed inflation remained sticky in the world’s largest economy, pushing back market expectations for the start of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve to at least the middle of the year from March.

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 7.1032 per dollar, 4 pips firmer than the previous fix of 7.1036 on Feb. 9.