Major Chinese state-owned banks were seen supporting the yuan in the forwards markets on Thursday after it fell to fresh 11-year lows, two traders with knowledge of the matter said.

The banks were receiving dollar liquidity in the forwards market before selling the greenback in the onshore spot market, traders said.

One of them said the state banks were seen selling dollars at around 7.07 yuan to the dollar in the spot market to prevent sharper losses in the local unit.

The onshore yuan traded at 7.0735 per dollar as of 06:20 GMT, down from the previous late night close of 7.0633. It had earlier slid to 7.0752, the weakest since March 2008