The offshore yuan strengthened past 6.89 per dollar on Thursday, extending its rally to a sixth straight session and reaching its strongest level since May 2023, as China aimed to elevate the currency’s global standing. President Xi Jinping has reiterated his ambition for the yuan to become a global reserve currency, one widely used in international trade, investment and foreign exchange markets and held by central banks in sizeable amounts. The offshore yuan has climbed to a near three-year high against the dollar, with the dollar sliding 6% against the renminbi since the start of last year. Still, gains were tempered after China’s central bank reaffirmed its “moderately loose” monetary policy stance, prioritizing stable growth and a gradual recovery in prices. The policy stance came before the data showing that annual consumer inflation slowed to a three-month low of 0.2% in January 2026, while producer price deflation eased to 1.4%, the least in one and a half years.
