China's yuan traded largely flat against the US dollar on Thursday, responding to balanced corporate flows and some uncertainty over the greenback's near term movements in overseas markets, traders said. The dollar inched slightly higher against a basket of currencies on Thursday, but its near-term outlook was clouded by worries over possible delays to US President Donald Trump's tax reform plans.
Official data showed that China's producer prices were surprisingly strong in October and consumer inflation picked up pace. Prior to market opening on Thursday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) lowered its official midpoint to 6.6325 per dollar, the weakest level since October31, 48 pips or 0.07 percent softer than the previous fix of 6.6277 on Wednesday.
In the spot market, onshore yuan opened at 6.6350 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.6315 at midday, only 2 pips firmer than the previous late session close and 0.02 percent stronger 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 96.01, firmer than the previous day's 95.93. The global dollar index rose to 94.896 from the previous close of 94.866.