The yuan ended a notch weaker at 8.2765 per US dollar on Friday, near the stronger end of its managed trading range. The one-year non-deliverable dollar forward discount versus the yuan was at 4,700 points, implying a rate of 7.808 yuan per dollar in 12 months' time. NDFs are a transaction where a forward price is agreed between a customer and a bank, but settlement on the value date is undertaken entirely in US dollars. One-year implied yuan volatility was at 7.75/9.75 percent.

Implied volatility is a measure of how much the options market expects the price of the underlying asset to move during the life of the option.

The yuan moves in a band of 8.2760 to 8.2800 enforced by the central bank.

Turnover, a heavy $1.68 billion on Thursday, was not immediately available.

The yuan softened to 8.0610 against 100 Japanese yen from 7.9765 on Thursday but firmed against the euro to 11.2588 from 11.2732.

Copyright Reuters, 2005