The offshore yuan depreciated to around 6.80 per dollar on Wednesday, hitting its lowest level in a month, as a stronger US dollar continued to weigh on the currency. The greenback remained supported by mounting expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates in September, with markets now assigning roughly a 70% chance of a rate hike. Further pressure came from the People’s Bank of China, which continued to set the yuan’s daily reference rate at weaker-than-expected levels. The central bank fixed the currency at 6.8195 per dollar on Wednesday, extending its longest streak of weaker fixings since April 2025. Meanwhile, China has effectively halted certain tungsten exports to Japan, while rare-earth magnet shipments fell to a one-year low in May, when Beijing first rolled out its global export-control regime. Such restrictions have remained in place amid tensions over Taiwan-related remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
