BEIJING (Reuters) - China's yuan fell to an 11-year low against the United Arab Emirates dirham on Thursday on concerns about an economic slowdown, prompting Chinese state-owned banks to support the currency in the futures market. (The dirham is pegged to the US dollar.)
The yuan's rally, coupled with Hong Kong stock declines on concerns over the city's protests, combined to push the New Zealand and Australian dollars lower and boost the yen against major counterparts.
The rest of the currencies were confined to a narrow range ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in Jackson Hole on Friday, which will be closely examined after a coup in the US Treasury yield curve, highlighting the risk of a recession. in the United States.
Expectations of further interest rate cuts are high, and US President Donald Trump's public calls for strong monetary easing have left the central bank in trouble.
In domestic transactions, the yuan fell to 7.0752 against the dollar, its lowest level since March 2008, before recovering slightly to 7.0732 against the dollar. In foreign trade, the dollar rose 0.29% to 7.0872 yuan.
Traders said large Chinese state-owned banks had supported the yuan.
The dollar was steady at 106.43 yen after gaining 0.36% yesterday, marking its biggest gain since August 13.
Against the Swiss franc, the dollar traded at 0.9828, near a two-week high of 0.9831.
The Australian dollar fell 0.32% to $ 0.6761 and fell 0.47% to 71.95 yen.
The New Zealand dollar fell to $ 0.6372, its lowest since January 2016, and fell 0.66% to 67.84 yen.
The pound fell slightly to 91.46 pence per euro and headed for losses for the second session, as uncertainty over Britain's secession from the European Union pressured the currency. Against the US dollar, sterling was little changed at $ 1.2127.