Chinese central bank keeps yuan steady, stocks slightly down

China's yuan gained in early trade on Friday, while shares opened a tad lower, as fears of a market meltdown faded thanks to central bank action to bolster the currency during the week and trade data showed the economy may not be as weak as feared.

 The turbulent start to 2016, with the currency and stock markets tumbling, had stoked concerns that Beijing's policymakers were in danger of fumbling as the country headed toward its slowest growth in 25 years.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.7 percent in early trade, while the CSI300 index was down 0.6 percent. The indexes have lost about 15 percent so far in 2016 and are not far from their 2015 lows, chalked up during August after losing more than 40 percent from early June.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) set a slightly weaker mid-point rate for the yuan, but the fix has been broadly steady for more than a week, signalling a determination to hold the line against expectations of a sustained depreciation of a currency that has lost 5 percent of its value against the dollar since August.

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