SHANGHAI – China’s renminbi inched higher to a fresh 3-½-year high against the US dollar on Sept 3, aided by a significantly stronger central bank fixing and persistent dollar weakness driven in part by renewed gains in the Japanese yen.
The yen held its gains after a sudden, brief surge in the previous session, keeping pressure on the dollar ahead of a crucial US jobs report.
Reflecting the broad weakness in the US currency, the People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.7807 per US dollar before the market opened, its strongest since Feb 8, 2023, but 640 pips weaker than a Reuters’ estimate of 6.7167.
The spot renminbi is allowed to trade a maximum of 2 per cent either side of the fixed midpoint each day.
Since November 2025, the central bank has consistently set the renminbi midpoint weaker than market forecasts, a move analysts and traders see as an effort to anchor currency stability and curb rapid appreciation.
In the spot market, the onshore renminbi rose to a high of 6.7180 per US dollar, the strongest level since Feb 2, 2023, before changing hands at 6.7183 as of 11.28am Singapore time.
Its offshore counterpart fetched 6.7177 renminbi per US dollar.
“The strength in the renminbi was reflecting the rebound in the Japanese yen,” said a trader at a Chinese bank, adding that investors will quickly shift their attention to US non-farm payrolls data due on Sept 4 for more clues on the US Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.
Markets are now pricing in a 61 per cent chance of a Fed rate hike in September.
US monetary tightening could affect major currencies including the Chinese renminbi, which has gained more than 4 per cent against the US dollar so far in 2026 to become one of the best performing Asian currencies.
“We anticipate that China’s policymakers will continue to favour gradual Chinese renminbi appreciation against the US dollar (3-5 per cent per year) as the option that best balances these objectives,” said economists at Goldman Sachs.
Those objectives include fostering growth in advanced industries, they said, as China seeks to build a “manufacturing superpower”, boosting self-sufficiency in critical technologies and supply chains, and accelerating the internationalisation of the renminbi. REUTERS
