China lifts yuan mid-point to highest in 8 months

China's central bank on Thursday lifted its official yuan midpoint to the strongest level in eight months at 6.6850 per dollar, to reflect losses in the greenback overnight after the Federal Reserve signalled an end to monetary policy tightening.

Thursday's midpoint was 251 pips, or 0.38 percent, firmer than the previous fix of 6.7101 and was the strongest since July 17, 2018.

The U.S. dollar fell sharply against a basket of major currencies after the Fed held U.S. interest rates steady and its policymakers abandoned projections for further rate hikes this year as the central bank flagged an expected slowdown in the economy. (Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; editing by Richard Pullin)