Amid the worries, stock investors took little cheer from a central bank decision on Friday to cut banks' required reserve ratio in a bid to aid the struggling economy. The widely expected RRR cut did however add downward pressure on the Chinese currency.
The onshore yuan weakened as much as 1.1% to 7.2435 per dollar at one point, the softest level since Nov. 10, and ended its domestic session trading at 7.1999. "The market does not like uncertainties that are difficult to price and the China protests clearly fall into this category. It means investors will become more risk-averse," said Gary Ng, economist at Natixis.is unprecedented in mainland China since President Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago and comes amid mounting frustration over his signature zero-COVID policy as well as record high daily infections.
While state media has not reported the protests, photos and videos of the protests circulated on social media.