“What markets don’t like above all is that there is no telling what the Chinese central bank is trying to do on the yuan”, said Teppei Ino, currency analyst at Bank of Mitsubishi-Tokyo UFJ in Singapore. That was the biggest decline between daily fixings since August and the eighth day in row the PBOC had set a lower guidance rate.

The value of its gold reserves stood at US$60.19 billion at the end of December, up from US$59.52 billion at the end of November, PBoC said on its website.

The dollar index .DXY was down almost 1 percent in late trading for its biggest one-day loss in almost a month.

The Chinese yuan weakened against the USA dollar in the Asian session on Wednesday amid worries about China’s economy after the nation’s central bank fixed the yuan at a fresh five-year low against the US dollar.

The Australian dollar, often used by foreign exchange dealers as a liquid proxy for the yuan, fell more than half a US cent. The Korean won, however, recovered nearly all of its initial falls with banks saying the Bank of Korea had probably also intervened to support the currency.

“Why people are panicked is because (i) they didn’t see this coming, and/or (ii) the global economy needs a consumer of last resort, and China is sending a signal that they won’t be it”, he added.

Global shares tumbled for a sixth day on Thursday and oil prices slid to levels not seen since the early 2000s, after China guided the yuan lower and Shanghai shares tumbled by 7 per cent, igniting fears of competitive devaluations across Asia.

According to a statement, China’s central bank placed $20 billion in short-term funds into the China’s financial market in order to help calm nervous investors after Monday’s stock slumped.

Regulators had closed trading early Monday because a seven percent fall triggered a new circuit breaker put in place during the summer to prevent sharp losses or gains. It gained 1.4 percent at $1.0927.

Intesa services big Italian and European exporters, who are among those global investors most exposed to Chinese growth, demand and moves in the yuan.

China’s securities watchdog, the CSRC, confirmed on Tuesday that it was mulling new rules to regulate share sales by major shareholders and senior executives, Reuters added.