Offshore Yuan Snaps 3-Session Gains

The offshore yuan weakened to around 7.10 per dollar on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning streak and after touching a more than ten-month high in the previous session. The decline followed a rebound in the US dollar, as investors reassessed the Fed’s cautious stance on future rate cuts. While the Fed delivered a widely expected 25 basis point cut on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments—describing it as a “risk-management” measure in response to a softening labor market—dampened expectations for aggressive easing, lifting the dollar. In China, Vice President Han Zheng announced plans to upgrade the free trade agreement with ASEAN amid ongoing trade tensions with the US. Speaking at the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, he emphasized deeper cooperation with the 10-member bloc. On the economic front, fiscal revenue increased by 0.3% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2025, slightly up from a 0.1% rise in the January–July period, according to the Finance Ministry.