AP
- The Chinese yuan is trading close to its 2023 lows.
- The currency has plunged 5% this year amid signs of Chinese economic weakness.
- Beijing is battling weaker-than-expected growth, deflation, and plunging exports.
The Chinese yuan is trading close to its weakest level of the year as weak data fuels concerns about the world's second-largest economy.
The currency tumbled 1% last week and another 0.3% Monday to trade at just under 7.26 yuan per US dollar, according to data from Refinitiv, approaching the 2023 low it set back in June.
It's now fallen 5% year-to-date, dragged down by signs that China's post-COVID economic rebound is sputtering out.
Official government data released in July showed that second-quarter growth fell short of analysts' expectations, while last week's Consumer and Producer Price Indices showed that the country is grappling with deflation for the first time in over two years.
Exports – one of the key drivers of China's economy – also fell at their sharpest rate in three years last month, plunging 14.5%, while Beijing is also struggling to contain a property-sector crisis that claimed another high-profile scalp last week.
"The yuan hit its lowest in a month on mounting concerns about China's debt-laden property sector," strategists at the Danish investment bank Saxo said Monday, citing Country Garden's struggles last week.
Shares in real-estate behemoth plunged 17% Friday and another 10% Monday with it mired in a liquidity crisis that has forced it to issue a profit warning and suspend trading of 11 of its onshore bonds.
Chinese stocks also slid Monday as investors weighed up Country Garden's struggles, with the flagship CSI 300 dropping 0.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index falling 1.6%.
Read more: China's economy is showing signs of serious trouble — and the problems are still mounting