Yuan slightly weakens against other currencies: new index

BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) — The yuan weakened slightly against a basket of currencies in March, according to financial services provider China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).

The yuan exchange rate composite index, which measures the yuan’s strength relative to a basket of 13 currencies including the U.S. dollar, euro and Japanese yen, came in at 98.14 at the end of March.

That marked a 1.5-percent depreciation from the level at the end of February, according to an article published on the CFETS website on Friday.

The index that measures the yuan against the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) weakened 1.96 percent from a month earlier, while that against the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket weakened 0.63 percent.

The article attributed the depreciation to anemic global recovery, weak trade data and China’s rising inflation.

The composite index is intended to offer a more comprehensive reflection of market changes. Previously, market watchers have mainly fixated on the yuan-U.S. dollar rate.

China’s currency has been weakening against the U.S. dollar since the country revamped the foreign exchange mechanism last year, and there has been growing concern about capital outflows.

In a meeting on Friday, the central bank vowed to carry out further reforms in yuan’s exchange rate formation mechanism to ensure the currency’s stability.