Yuan weakens

China´s yuan eased slightly against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday on rising seasonal corporate demand for the greenback ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.

In the global market, the dollar held steady near a recent two-week high against a basket of major currencies.

The market has already priced in a interest rate hike by the Fed at its meeting that ends on Wednesday. Domestic traders said they will focus on Fed comments on the pace of further U.S. monetary tightening, as that would affect the yuan´s movements.

There´s speculation that China´s central bank will wield a liquidity management tool twice this month for the first time since March, and that has some traders feeling Beijing might tighten policy soon after the Fed meeting. Prior to market opening on Tuesday, the People´s Bank of China set the yuan midpoint rate at 6.6162 per dollar, 10 pips weaker than the previous fix of 6.6152.