The yuan had its biggest quarterly decline since a dollar peg ended in 2005 as Europe's crisis hurt demand for Chinese exports.

The People's Bank of China lowered the currency's daily reference rate by 0.48 percent this quarter, while the Dollar Index strengthened 4 percent as investors favored safer assets. The yuan weakened 0.88 percent this quarter to 6.3541 per US dollar in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

Agencies - China Daily