China's major state-owned banks were seen selling dollars for yuan in onshore markets on Monday to stabilise the Chinese currency, sources said.

State banks had also stepped into the market on Friday after the yuan weakened past the psychologically important 7.2 per dollar, the sources said.

Prior to the market's opening, the People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate, around which the yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band, at 7.0996 per U.S. dollar. That was 1,271 pips firmer than Reuters estimate, the biggest such discrepancy since November 2023. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Kim Coghill)