Not for the first time this year, the behaviour of the Chinese renminbi is causing more than the odd furrowed brow in the markets
The powers that be in China have spent much of the past few months patiently explaining that their currency’s long-time peg against the dollar is history, and henceforth the renminbi will be managed with reference to a trade-weighted basket of 13 currencies.
Amid widespread confusion over the change in foreign exchange policy, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, spelt it out in mid-February, when he said keeping the exchange rate against the basket “at a broadly stable level” will be the “keynote” of the new regime.