The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has set the USD/CNY reference rate at 7.1696 for March 12, 2025, significantly stronger than the market estimate of 7.2324. This adjustment marks a 45-pip increase, the largest since January 21. The onshore yuan strengthened to 7.2158 against the dollar in early trading, the strongest level since November 13, 2024. Additionally, the PBOC injected 175.4 billion yuan through 7-day reverse repos at an unchanged rate of 1.50%, while draining 177.8 billion yuan from open market operations. On March 13, the PBOC cut the central parity rate by 32 pips to 7.1728 per USD, again exceeding market expectations. The PBOC also conducted a 35.9 billion yuan reverse repo operation, draining 68.6 billion yuan from the market as part of its liquidity management strategy.