Tokyo — The Chinese yuan skidded to one-year lows on Friday, unnerving investors in Asian stock markets and stoking concern that Beijing’s currency management could become the next flash point in a fierce trade dispute with the US.Spread-betters expected European stocks to open lower as volatility gripped Asia, with Britain’s FTSE falling 0.1% and Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC both shedding 0.25%. The yuan fell to as low as 6.8128 to the dollar in the onshore market, before major state-owned Chinese banks were seen selling dollars in an apparent bid by authorities to prevent a rapid fall in the currency.Most equity markets in the region were shaken by the yuan’s continued slide. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.1% in volatile trade."There are several channels through which the yuan’s weakening is hitting Asian stocks. First, a weaker yuan challenges the competitiveness of other Asian economies," said Shusuke Yamada, currency and equity strate...
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