The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has set the yuan's reference rate at 7.1991 per dollar, marking the weakest level since September 11, 2023. This rate is 445 pips stronger than the average estimate of 7.2436 from a Bloomberg survey, indicating a significant deviation from market expectations. Additionally, the PBOC has established a fixing range for the yuan between 7.2425 and 7.2467. In a bid to improve liquidity, the central bank injected 233 billion yuan through 7-day reverse repos at a rate of 1.50%. This follows a previous injection of 328.2 billion yuan on November 14, 2024, which also aimed to bolster market liquidity. The offshore yuan saw a 0.1% increase following the PBOC's fixing announcement, while the onshore yuan dropped to 7.2450 per dollar, its lowest level since August 2, 2024.