Shortly before Airbus celebrated the completion of the 100th A320 aircraft at its Chinese final assembly facility in September 2012, the renminbi was trading at Rmb6.4 to the US dollar. Over the following eight months it would strengthen 3 per cent against the greenback to Rmb6.2.

This week the renminbi did the exact opposite, falling from Rmb6.2 to the dollar to Rmb6.4. It did so in just two days after the Chinese central bank shocked global markets on Tuesday by lowering the renminbi’s daily “reference rate” to the greenback — around which China’s currency is allowed to rise or fall by 2 per cent — by an unprecedented 1.9 per cent.

Coupled with its pledge to set the reference rate closer to the renminbi’s previous close, the People’s Bank of China raised market expectations for a much more volatile trading environment for the renminbi. According to the central bank’s new rules, the Chinese currency could theoretically rise or fall by as much as 10 per cent over the course of a week.