By Summer Zhen

HONG KONG, April 11 (Reuters) - China's yuan slipped to

a five-month low against the dollar on Thursday despite the

central bank's efforts to steer it higher, as

hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation numbers pushed out the

expected timing of a first Federal Reserve rate cut.

The yuan was trading at 7.2361 per dollar at 0400

GMT, little changed from the previous close. The central bank's

daily benchmark fixings and support from state-owned banks have

slowed its decline but it hit a November low of 7.2370 in early

trades.

The currency is down 1.9% this year, pressured by its

relative low yields versus other currencies and outflows of

foreign investment from an anaemic stock market. It is facing

selling pressure as China eases monetary policy, leading to a

widening gap between U.S. and Chinese interest rates.

The People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate for the

yuan at 7.0968 per U.S. dollar prior to market open,

1,654 pips firmer than a Reuters estimate, the

biggest discrepancy since Reuters started its estimations in

2018. The spot yuan is allowed to trade in a 2% band of the

daily official fixing.

The record discrepancy comes after the offshore yuan

dropped the most in three weeks against the dollar

overnight.

The dollar rose across the board on Wednesday after data

showed U.S. inflation was higher than forecast in March, pushing

out the expected timing of a Federal Reserve rate cut to

September from June.

Meanwhile, China's consumer inflation cooled more than

expected in March, official data showed on Thursday.

"The latest weakness of the yuan is mostly due to a stronger

dollar rather than domestic developments," said Lynn Song, chief

economist for Greater China at ING.

He expects the PBOC to continue to resist rapid yuan

depreciation although it is likely to gradually weaken in the

near-term.

The global dollar index fell to 105.132 from the

previous close of 105.245.

The offshore yuan was trading 0.26% away from the

onshore spot at 7.2551 per dollar.

The yuan market at 3:50AM GMT:

ONSHORE SPOT:

Item Current Previous Change

PBOC midpoint

-0.01%

7.0968 7.0959

Spot yuan

-0.02%

7.2359 7.2345

Divergence from

midpoint*

1.96%

Spot change YTD

-1.91%

Spot change since 2005

revaluation 14.38%

*Divergence of the dollar/yuan exchange rate. Negative number

indicates that spot yuan is trading stronger than the midpoint.

OFFSHORE CNH MARKET

Instrument Current Difference

from onshore

Offshore spot yuan

* -0.26%

7.2551

Offshore

non-deliverable 0.77%

forwards 7.0425

**

*Premium for offshore spot over onshore

**Figure reflects difference from PBOC's official midpoint,

since non-deliverable forwards are settled against the midpoint.

.