The dollar wobbled on Wednesday after China’s manufacturing activity expanded at its fastest pace since April 2012 and exceeded forecasts, sparking some risk-on appetite that sent the safe-haven dollar lower.
The yuan and the Australian dollar got a leg up from the upbeat Chinese economic data, which showed that the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) stood at 52.6 last month against 50.1 in January.
Similarly, China’s non-manufacturing activity grew at a faster pace in February, official data showed, while the Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI reading for last month likewise surpassed market expectations.
The onshore yuan rose and was last roughly 0.1% higher at 6.9250 per dollar, while the offshore yuan gained a larger 0.26% to 6.9371 per dollar.
“The strong set of China PMIs breathed some life into the China reopening trade,” said Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at OCBC.
The Aussie, which slid to a two-month low earlier on Wednesday following soft domestic economic data, also reversed its losses following the Chinese surveys, and was last 0.07% higher at $0.6733.
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