Yuan-dollar rate bolstered ahead of CNY

According to a Bloomberg article, the People’s Bank of China strengthened its fixing by 0.16 percent to a four-week high of 6.5419 per dollar. The offshore rate traded in Hong Kong rose 0.05 percent, having surged 0.26 percent on Wednesday as weakening prospects for U.S interest-     rate increases led to a further decline in the dollar.
The move comes ahead of a financial market close next week due to the arrival of the Chinese New Year holiday.
“The central bank is trying to dampen market expectations of a depreciation before the holidays,” said Irene Cheung, a foreign-exchange strategist at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Singapore told Bloomberg. “It’s sending a strong signal.”