SHANGHAI: China’s yuan was steady on Friday, as easing expectations offset the positive impact from a weaker dollar.

It changed hands at roughly 7.090 per dollar at midday, barely moving from the previous day’s close.

The Chinese currency has strengthened more than 2.6% since the end of July, as the greenback weakened amid growing bets on a US rate cut in September, prompting some Chinese companies to sell the dollar for yuan.

On Friday, the dollar nursed losses, with investors on tenterhooks ahead of US jobs data that could decide the size and speed of coming US rate cuts.

But traders hesitated to push up the yuan, after China’s central bank said on Thursday that policymakers still have room to lower the amount of cash banks must hold as reserves.