The yuan’s USD/CNY pair dropped slightly and remained close to a 10-month low hit last week

Most Asian currencies kept to a tight range on Monday with the yuan muted after more weak economic prints from China.

The yen’s USD/JPY pair dropped 0.2% in holiday-thinned trade, while the Australian dollar’s AUD/USD pair added 0.2%. The Aussie was a standout performer last week, as it benefited from rising commodity prices.

The Singapore dollar’s USD/SGD pair was flat, while the won’s USDKRW pair declined 0.4%.

The yuan’s USD/CNY pair dropped slightly on Monday and remained close to a 10-month low hit last week.

Weak Chinese economic data continued to pile up. Industrial production and retail sales both grew less than expected in August, as did fixed asset investment.

China’s unemployment rate also unexpectedly grew to 5.3% in August, data showed on Monday. The prints followed weak inflation data from last week, which showed Chinese disinflation remaining squarely in play.

The figures highlighted persistent weakness in the Chinese economy. Weakness in demand also came as support from Beijing’s sweeping consumer subsidies ran dry– a trend that is likely to draw out more government stimulus.

But the yuan was sitting on stellar gains through August and September, with a series of strong midpoint fixings from Beijing contributing to this trend. China was seen propping up the yuan to make its exports appear more attractive.

The dollar index and dollar index futures both steadied in Asian trade on Monday after logging mild gains last week.

But the dollar remained under pressure from market conviction that the US central bank will cut interest rates this week. Markets are pricing in a 96.4% chance that the country’s central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points during its September 16-17 meeting, and a 3.6% chance for a 50 bps cut, CME Fedwatch showed.