China's yuan firmed against the dollar on Monday as the greenback softened in global markets, with traders nervously awaiting US President-elect Donald Trump's first days in office.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal he will not label China a currency manipulator on his first day in office on Friday, as he had pledged during the election campaign.
The People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.8874 per dollar prior to the market open, firmer than the previous fix of 6.8909.
In the spot market, the yuan opened at 6.9025 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.8932 at midday, 90 pips firmer than the previous late session close and 0.08 percent softer than the midpoint.
The Thomson Reuters/HKEX Global CNH index, which tracks the offshore yuan against a basket of currencies on a daily basis, stood at 96.11, weaker than the previous day's 96.27.
The offshore yuan was trading 0.53 percent away from the onshore spot at 6.8571 per dollar. Offshore one-year non-deliverable forwards contracts (NDFs), considered the best available proxy for forward-looking market expectations of the yuan's value, traded at 7.1645, 3.87 percent weaker than the midpoint.