Yuan weakens to 2-week low

SHANGHAI: China's yuan weakened past a key threshold to its lowest level in two weeks against the U.S. dollar on Monday after Beijing reported slightly softer economic growth data, but it quickly recovered all of the earlier loss.

The economy grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, slightly slower than the first quarter, as Beijing´s crackdown on debt risks crimped activity, while June factory output growth weakened to a two-year low. Prior to market opening, the People´s Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan´s midpoint rate at 6.6758 per dollar, 31 pips weaker than Friday´s fix of 6.6727. In the spot market, onshore yuan opened at 6.6877 per dollar and soon breached the psychologically significant level of 6.70, at one point reaching 6.7060, the weakest level since July 3. But at midday, spot yuan was changing hands at 6.6905, or 88 pips firmer than the previous late session close though 0.22 percent softer than the midpoint.