Analysts said that together the moves showed official unease at the yuan's downward momentum and that they could slow but perhaps not halt a decline, given the dour economic outlook.
"They are sending more signals now they're uncomfortable ... they would like to slow the yuan weakness," said Moh Siong Sim, a currency strategist at Bank of Singapore.
The yuan ended Monday at a seven-month low of 7.2425 per dollar and was at 7.2105 in Tuesday afternoon trade.
BACK FOOTThe push back comes as investors sour on China, with data showing China's vaunted rebound faltering.
Analysts said moves to halt the yuan's slide were not yet as firm as last year, when regulators rolled out measures to encourage capital inflows, but might be enough to slow selling.
Persons:
Yuan, Siong Sim, Stocks, Alvin Tan, We've, Rob Carnell, Carnell, That's, Ankur Banerjee, Tom Westbrook, Rae Wee, Vidya Ranganathan, Kim Coghill, Jacqueline Wong
Organizations:
People's Bank of China, Analysts, Bank of Singapore, UBS, Australian, Asia FX, RBC Capital Markets, Beijing, Thomson
Locations:
SHANGHAI, BEIJING, China, Hong Kong, Asia, Shanghai, Singapore