China’s onshore renminbi fell to its weakest level in six months versus the US dollar on Monday, following comments by the country’s central bank head that hinted the currency could be permitted to slide further.
In Asian morning trading hours, the onshore renminbi faded by as much as 0.4 per cent against its US counterpart to Rmb6.9352, with the Chinese currency touching its weakest point since November 2018. The onshore renminbi had suffered its worst month since July in May, weakening 2.5 per cent.
The decline in the renminbi came after Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China, told Bloomberg in an interview on Friday that no “numerical number” is more important than any other when asked if there was a red line on the currency’s exchange rate. That has prompted speculation that Chinese authorities could permit the renminbi to fall past the psychologically important level of Rmb7 to the dollar.