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SINGAPORE/LONDON – The dollar weakened on Monday as investors weighed up the recent drop in U.S. government bond yields, while anti-government protests in China sent the yuan to a two-week low.
Protests have flared across China and spread to several cities in the wake of an apartment fire that killed 10 people in the city of Urumqi in the country’s far west. Hundreds of demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night.
China’s onshore yuan finished the domestic session around 0.5 percent lower at 7.199 per dollar, the lowest close since Nov. 10. The offshore yuan fell to a more than two-week low in Asian trading and was last down 0.1 percent at 7.201.
“We’re really looking at the government response to what’s happening … the government response is so unpredictable, and of course that just means derisking,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
The Australian dollar, often used as a proxy for the yuan, slid 0.