The Yuan retreated from an early high against the U. S dollar as HSBC/Markit revised down their final manufacturing PMI for China suggesting contraction at a faster than initially estimated rate.
China's manufacturing sector continued to contract in April, the latest survey from HSBC and Markit Economics revealed - with a final purchasing managers' index score of 48.1.
That was down from last month's flash estimate of 48.3, although it was up from the final March reading of 48.0.
The yuan retreated to 6.2595 against the U.S dollar, from a 6-day high of 6.2532 hit in the early Asian session. If the yuan extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around the 6.27 area.
The People Bank of China set today's central parity rate for yuan at 6.1560 per dollar, compared to last Wednesday's reference rate of 6.1580. The central bank sets the reference rate every morning and allows the currency to move upto 2 percent from that level.
Looking ahead, Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence for May is due in early European deals.
Eurozone producer price inflation data for March is due in the European session.
Meanwhile, Markit's U.S Final Services PMI and ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI are set to be released in the New York session.
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Forex News
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.