Wall Street and European stock markets have plummeted, especially in the trading of shares in the luxury goods sector. The depreciation is greater than the one performed in 2005, when the Chinese currency was decoupled from the U.S. Dollar. The People's Bank of China devalued the yuan by 1.86 percent to 6.2298 on the dollar from Monday's quotation of 6.1162. The decision to devaluate the national currency came after the latest figures showing a steep drop in exports were published during the last weekend. Exports fell 8.3 percent in July and the production price index dropped 5.4 percent on an annual basis. The rate of exchange of the yuan varies within a trading range of 2 percent against the dollar, which is fixed daily when the Chinese Central Bank opens for business. The Chinese Central Bank defined the move as an "extraordinary depreciation" following rumours on the possibility that the bank could widen the trading band, which was set at 2 percent in March 2014, as China is pushing to have the renminbi accepted as a global reserve currency alongside the dollar, the euro, the British pound and the yen. The International Monetary Fund will decide on whether or not to include the yuan in the Special Drawing Rights next November. Most analysts think that the devaluation of the yuan was primarily aimed at boosting exports, which have hit a six-year low, even if the decision seems to diverge from the government's repeated intention to restructure the Chinese economy upon a domestic demand-led development model. (AGI)