The offshore yuan hovered around the 7 per dollar mark, trading near its highest in fifteen months, as seasonal year-end demand persisted and a broadly weaker US dollar added support. Exporters typically convert more foreign currency into yuan at year-end to meet payments and administrative requirements, a trend likely to continue into January ahead of the Lunar New Year. Additionally, the greenback remained under pressure as investors awaited the Fed Reserve’s December meeting minutes for clues on the path of interest rates. However, the yuan’s rapid advance prompted Chinese state media to warn against one-way bets, signaling growing official concern over the pace of gains. The People’s Bank of China also pledged to curb “overshooting risks” and has set its daily fixing below market expectations for the past two weeks. The yuan has gained more than 4% this year, its biggest annual rise since 2020, crossing 7 per dollar in offshore trade last week for the first time in over a year.
