China central bank sets yuan midpoint 0.5% weaker, biggest daily fall since Aug devaluation

[SHANGHAI] The People's Bank of China set its official midpoint rate at 6.5646 per dollar prior to the market open on Thursday, its weakest level since March 2011.

The central bank also fixed the official guidance rate 0.5 per cent weaker than Wednesday's fix of 6.5314, its biggest daily fall since last August, when Beijing surprised the market with an abrupt near 2 percent devaluation of the Chinese currency.

Beijing has said it is moving towards valuing the yuan's exchange rate on a trade-weighted basis, loosening the Chinese currency's peg to the greenback.

REUTERS