In the first details to emerge since Beijing revalued the yuan against the dollar last month, the People’s Bank of China said that, as well as the US currency, the basket was predominantly composed of the euro, yen and Korean won.

The basket also includes sterling, the Singapore dollar, the Malaysian ringgit, the Russian rouble, the Australian dollar, the Thai baht, and the Canadian dollar, according to Zhou Xiaochuan, the People’s Bank’s Governor.

Mr Zhou did not disclose the weights of the currencies included.

Since the Chinese revaluation, the yuan has remained benchmarked against a rate of 8.11 to the dollar, with a slim daily trading margin permitted on either side of this. But Mr Zhou said the basket arrangement would “reduce the fluctuations of the yuan against other currencies”, promoting greater trade stability.

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