(Sept 15): China’s central bank strengthened the yuan’s reference rate for a fifth straight day, aiming to offset the dollar’s recent gains ahead of China President Xi Jinping’s summit with US counterpart Donald Trump later this month.

The People’s Bank of China set the reference rate at 6.7670 per dollar on Tuesday, marking its longest strengthening streak since December 2025. The rate was 602 pips weaker than the average forecast in a Bloomberg survey. The onshore yuan is only allowed to rise or fall by a maximum 2% from the fixing rate.

The streak highlights Beijing’s effort to cushion the yuan against a rebounding dollar. By guiding the currency gradually higher, policymakers are displaying their intention to limit volatility ahead of the Xi-Trump summit on Sept 24.

“There may be a mild policy-signalling element ahead of the anticipated Trump-Xi meeting,” said Christopher Wong, FX strategist at OCBC. “A broadly stable, or mildly appreciating, yuan would probably be preferable to policymakers at this juncture, particularly as it avoids adding the currency to the list of potential bilateral tensions.”

The yuan was little changed on Tuesday in both onshore and offshore trading. Bloomberg’s gauge of the dollar rose 0.1%, a day after posting its biggest jump in nearly three months.

“The lower USD/CNY fixing today confirms that the PBOC wants a stable and gradually appreciating yuan going into the summit,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, head of cross-asset strategy for Asia at BBVA. “I expect the very slow appreciation of yuan at PBOC fixings to continue until the summit.”

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