China's yuan eased against the US dollar on Thursday, after the central bank lowered its official midpoint for the first time in five days as the greenback strengthened on solid US economic data. The dollar extended gains, buoyed by upbeat US manufacturing and construction data and supportive minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, which showed it remained on track to raise interest rates several times this year.

Prior to market opening on Thursday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate at 6.5043 per dollar, 123 pips or 0.19 percent weaker than the previous fix of 6.4920. Thursday's fixing was the biggest one-day weakening in percentage terms since November 6, 2017. In the spot market, the onshore yuan opened at 6.5070 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.5078 at midday, 73 pips weaker than the previous late session close and 0.05 percent softer the midpoint.

Copyright Reuters, 2018