China’s yuan eased against the dollar on Thursday, despite the central bank setting the daily midpoint fixing stronger than expected, in what investors interpreted as an official attempt to rein in weakness in the currency. Prior to the market opening, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate at 7.2208 per dollar, 107 pips weaker than the previous fix of 7.2101. However, the official guidance rate was much stronger than market had expected, traders and analysts said, the same as what was seen on Monday and Tuesday. And it was 332 pips firmer than Reuters’ estimate of 7.2540. China’s yuan firms as PBOC ... (full story)