China's yuan touched the lowest level in six weeks after the central bank cut the reference rate for a second day, raising speculation it wants to slow appreciation to protect exporters amid a slide in the yen.

The People's Bank of China reduced the fixing by 0.03 percent to 6.2898 per dollar, the weakest level since Dec 27.

The yen has declined 7 percent in 2013 and approached a three- year low on Wednesday, threatening to make Japanese goods more competitive in international markets.