Chinese Yuan Falls To 1-week Low Against U.S. Dollar

The Chinese yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar in the Asian session on Tuesday after data showed that China's manufacturing activity fell to a seventh-month low in December.

Data from HSBC Bank showed that China's manufacturing sector has moved to contraction in December, showing a seven-month low PMI score of 49.5. That's down from the boom-or-bust score of 50.0 in November that also separates expansion from contraction.

Against the greenback, the yuan fell to a 1-week low of 6.1975 from an early high of 6.1869. At yesterday's close, the yuan was trading at 6.1905 against the greenback.

If the yuan extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around the 6.207 area.

The People Bank of China set today's central parity rate for yuan at 6.1182 per dollar, compared to yesterday's reference rate of 6.1152. The central bank sets the reference rate every morning and allows the currency to move upto 2 percent from that level.