(Bloomberg) -- China’s yuan is poised for its longest losing streak on record.
It’s on track for 11 straight sessions of decline, which would be its most prolonged slump according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System data that goes back as far as 2007.
This comes after the central bank has set its daily reference rate at a stronger than expected level for seven straight days, a sign that the People’s Bank of China is growing uncomfortable with the yuan’s descent.
Despite the PBOC’s efforts, bearish sentiment is prevailing in the wake of China and the U.S. exchanging escalated tariff threats. On Thursday the currency slipped 0.05% to 7.1683 per dollar as of 10:19 a.m. in Shanghai.
“The steady onshore yuan fixings reflect a stronger PBOC policy signal to stabilize the yuan,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd. “However, it appears they’re not strong enough given the prevailing yuan sentiment and deadlocked China-US trade talks.”
An escalation in the trade war between China and the U.S. has helped make the yuan the worst-performing currency in Asia since May. It has plummeted by almost 4% in August -- set for its biggest monthly drop since January 1994, when the modern exchange-rate regime was adopted. A slowdown in China’s economy has also dented investor confidence.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Livia Yap in Shanghai at lyap14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sofia Horta e Costa at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net, David Watkins, Philip Glamann
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