Poor China trade numbers halt US dollar rally

London

A POOR batch of Chinese trade numbers halted the US dollar's broader rally on Thursday and sent the offshore version of the country's yuan currency to within sight of lows hit in a dramatic sell-off in January.

In the tightly controlled onshore market, the yuan was fixed at another six-year low of 6.7255 yuan per US dollar. Offshore, it traded 0.2 per cent weaker at 6.7364. China halted January's run on the currency by selling huge tens of billions of its US dollar reserves and pumping up offshore interest rates on the yuan to squeeze out speculators.