China's yuan closed slightly weaker in active trading on Monday due to higher dollar demand as the year-end approaches, traders said. The Chinese currency was also weakened by a softer midpoint fixing by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), which traders said reflected a rebound in the dollar index late last week.

The yuan finished at 6.2335 per dollar, slightly lower than Friday's close of 6.2286. The PBOC marginally weakened its midpoint to 6.2913 from Friday's 6.2881. The exchange rate is only allowed to diverge by 1 percent in either direction from the central bank's daily midpoint. Monday's trading volume jumped to $19.95 billion from Friday's healthy $12.5 billion as traders said clients were preparing their forex positions for the end of the year-end accounting period. The yuan has appreciated 0.97 percent this year.

Copyright Reuters, 2012