China Greenlights Yuan Gains at Year-End With Measured Approach

China handed yuan bulls a New Year’s gift with tacit consent for more appreciation, while carefully pacing the currency’s gains to avoid hurting exporters and accelerating hot-money inflows.

The People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s daily reference rate on Wednesday at a fresh high since September 2024, a day after it allowed the currency to pierce through the key 7-per-dollar level in the more tightly controlled onshore market. That followed the yuan’s breach of the threshold in largely unrestricted offshore trading last week.