The Chinese currency breached the symbolic seven to the dollar level on Monday as trade tensions remained elevated, prompting investors to sell stocks and other risk assets across Asia and jump into the relative safety of havens including the Japanese yen and US treasuries.

By early afternoon trading, the onshore traded renminbi had sunk by 1.3 per cent to Rmb7.0257 to the dollar, breaking the seven to the dollar threshold for the first time in 11 years. The offshore Chinese currency — which trades more freely that its onshore counterpart — tumbled 1.5 per cent to Rmb7.0769 to the dollar, breaching the seven level for the first time in its history.

That prompted equities to sink, as Japan’s benchmark Topix fell 2.4 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 2.2 per cent to reach its weakest point since November 2016.