Yuan's share in global payments contracts

The yuan's share in global currency payments contracted by about 0.5 percentage points to 4.14 percent last month but was still its second highest on record.

The data came as an investment bank boosted its outlook on China's growth for 2024.

The yuan remained the fourth most active currency for global payments by value, according to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication or Swift.

The US dollar share increased 0.46 percentage points to 47.54 percent while the euro and the British pound dropped by 0.54 and 0.23 percentage points to 22.41 percent and 6.92 percent respectively. The yen was up 0.43 percentage points to 3.83 percent as the fifth most-used currency.

Hong Kong remained the biggest offshore yuan hub with nearly 80 percent of holdings, followed by 5.06 percent in the UK and 3.08 percent by Singapore.

The yuan's share in global payments hit an all-time high of 4.61 percent last November, as high interest rates led to surging financing costs for the US dollar and euro.

Meanwhile, UBS raised its growth forecast for China to 4.6 percent from 4.4 percent while Invesco said it expected Beijing to set a goal of around 5 percent again.

J P Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon, however, said investors considering making a move into the world's second-largest economy have to be "a little worried" because "the risk-reward has changed dramatically."

In other news, China's National Development and Reform Commission will reveal policies to support the job market, its deputy secretary-general Yuan Da said.