China’s central bank lowered the daily yuan fixing from 6.7180 to 6.7162 per dollar. Banks trade at market prices, within a 2% band above and below the fixing for onshore interbank dollar/yuan spot transactions.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the dollar/yuan fixing at 6.7162 on Monday, October 26. China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), acting under the central bank’s authorization, published the rate in its official announcement. It was 0.0018 yuan below Friday, October 23’s 6.7180. Fewer yuan per dollar means the fixing strengthened by 18 pips in the Chinese currency’s favor.
CFETS publishes the daily fixing at 09:15 Beijing time, or 04:15 in Türkiye. The central bank posted the same announcement on its website at 09:25:15 Beijing time. Friday is the comparison date because it was the previous business day.
What the 18-pip change means
One pip in the dollar/yuan quotation is 0.0001 yuan. The yuan needed for one dollar fell by about 0.0268%, from 6.7180 to 6.7162. The calculation compares two daily fixings; an investor’s return depends on the prices at which they buy and sell yuan.
| Measure | Rate | Date and time |
|---|---|---|
| Previous daily fixing | 6.7180 | October 23, 09:15 Beijing |
| New daily fixing | 6.7162 | October 26, 09:15 Beijing |
| Previous spot closing benchmark | 6.6711 | October 23, 16:30 Beijing |
| Spot bid / ask quotes | 6.6690 / 6.6691 | October 26, 14:09 Beijing / 09:09 Türkiye |
At 14:09 Beijing time on October 26, CFETS’s market screen showed a gap of 0.0001 yuan, or one pip, between the bid and ask. The table’s 6.6690 and 6.6691 quotes describe offers at that moment, while 6.6711 is Friday’s 16:30 closing benchmark. Banks do not execute every trade at the 6.7162 fixing.
FXStreet’s October 26 report attributed a fixing estimate of 6.6691 to Reuters. The announced 6.7162 was 0.0471 yuan, or 471 pips, above that estimate. The PBOC set the yuan stronger than on Friday but weaker than the reported estimate. The figure attributed to Reuters was a forecast for the morning fixing; the matching number observed at 14:09 was a market ask quote.
How the daily fixing is calculated
Under CFETS’s published method, market makers submit quotes before trading opens each business day. Banks should consider the previous interbank closing rate, foreign-exchange supply and demand, and movements in major currencies. CFETS removes the highest and lowest offers and calculates a weighted average of the remaining quotes.
CFETS assigns different weights based on indicators such as each bank’s transaction volume and market-making performance. The previous close is one input, and the remaining quotes do not carry equal weight. The October 26 announcement did not publish individual submissions or the weights applied that day.
“excludes the highest and lowest offers”
Which trades fall within the 2% band?
Onshore interbank dollar/yuan spot transactions can take place within 2% above or below the daily fixing. Multiplying 6.7162 by 0.98 and 1.02 produces boundaries of 6.5819 and 6.8505, rounded to four decimal places. A lower dollar/yuan quotation represents a stronger yuan; a higher quotation represents a weaker yuan.
CFETS extended spot trading to 03:00 the following day from January 3, 2023, while retaining the 09:30 Beijing opening. It announced the change in its December 30, 2022 notice. Banks use that trading day’s 09:15 fixing and band throughout the session. CFETS still publishes the closing benchmark at 16:30, while trading continues afterward.
A trading band is not a forecast. Interbank spot trades must stay within the stated boundaries. The currency’s direction and whether it reaches either boundary remain uncertain. Customers’ prices and additional costs depend on their bank’s quote. The daily fixing announcement is not a new interest-rate decision or a record of central-bank currency purchases or sales.
The yuan trades as CNY onshore and CNH offshore. An August 30, 2024 study by Federal Reserve economist Bastian von Beschwitz explains that offshore renminbi is not subject to the same trading band. The yuan can therefore trade at different prices in the onshore and offshore markets.
Reading the euro, yen and lira rates
The October 26 announcement also set one euro at 7.5047 yuan, 100 Japanese yen at 4.2662 yuan and one pound sterling at 8.9505 yuan. The corresponding rates on the previous business day were 7.5140, 4.2793 and 8.9749. The yen entry is expressed per 100 yen, not per single yen.
For the Turkish lira, CFETS quotes how many lira buy one yuan: one yuan equals 7.43160 lira, compared with 7.42369 on October 23. The lira reference also applies to China’s interbank market. Turkish banks provide their own bid and ask prices to customers. The yuan’s daily moves against the dollar, euro and lira can differ in direction and size.
