The offshore yuan weakened to around 6.81 per dollar on Monday, extending losses from the previous week as a series of weak economic data weighed on sentiment. New home prices across 70 major cities fell 3.5% year-on-year in April 2026, marking the sharpest pace of decline since May 2025, as existing stimulus efforts have yet to restore meaningful momentum in housing demand. Moreover, industrial output moderated to 4.1% year-on-year in April, marking the weakest expansion since July 2023, as disruptions linked to the Iran conflict weighed on manufacturing activity and export-oriented output. Retail sales growth also lost momentum, increasing just 0.2% year-on-year, the weakest performance since December 2022, highlighting subdued domestic consumption. On the labor front, China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate edged down to 5.2% in April from a more than one-year high of 5.4% in March, slightly better than market expectations and the lowest level since January.
