From earlier today:
- China official February PMIs: Manufacturing 52.6 (prior 50.1) Services 56.3 (prior 54.4)
- China Caixin Manufacturing PMI comes in at 51.6 in February (prior 49.2)
That is seeing the Chinese yuan push higher, with the offshore currency up 0.6% against the dollar as USD/CNH is seen trading back to 6.90 levels currently:
The advance in the offshore yuan this week erases the drop on Friday as it looks for a bit of a pullback, after having weakened for all through the February month. That saw USD/CNH climb from 6.70 to near 7.00, falling just short upon closing in on its 100-day moving average (red line).
In any case, when the dollar tends to see outsized moves against the yuan, there are spillover impacts like the ones we are seeing today arguably. That is more evident in AUD/USD and NZD/USD of course, with both the antipodeans also considered proxy currencies to the yuan.
