China's yuan slipped past the key 6.9-per-dollar level on Tuesday, after the central bank guided its official yuan midpoint to its weakest since mid-January. The People's Bank of China fixed the yuan midpoint rate at 6.8957 per dollar prior to market open, its weakest since Jan. 17.
Tuesday's fixing was 167 pips or 0.2 percent softer than the previous fix, which was set at 6.8790. In the spot market, the yuan breached the psychologically important 6.9-per-dollar level in early trade and was changing hands at 6.9037 by 0258 GMT, 76 pips weaker than the previous late session close and 0.12 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 95.11, weaker than the previous day's 95.17.
The global dollar index stayed flat at 101.64 from the previous close of 101.64. The offshore yuan was trading 0.05 percent firmer than the onshore spot at 6.9001 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 7.123, 3.19 percent weaker than the midpoint.
One-year NDFs are settled against the midpoint, not the spot rate.