China's yuan basket index hits fresh five-year highs

The value of the Chinese yuan against its major trading partner hit a fresh over five-year highs after the People Bank of China (PBOC) set its official yuan midpoint at the strongest level in a week this Thursday.

China’s trade-weighted yuan basket index to 98.77, the highest since March 15, 2016, up 4.15% so far this year, based on Reuters calculations.

The PBOC set the USD/CNY reference rate at 6.4651 prior to the market open, which was 184 pips or 0.28%, stronger than the previous fix of 6.4835, making it the strongest since July 15.

Meanwhile, USD/CNY was last seen trading modestly flat at 6.4680, having found some support near three-day lows of 6.4653.