SHANGHAI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - China"s yuan touched a one-week high against the dollar on Friday and looked set for its third straight weekly gain after U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed the need to manage competition between their countries and avoid conflict. Relations between Washington and Beijing have been at their lowest point in decades and it was only the second call between the leaders since Biden took office in January. The conversation focused on economic issues, climate change and COVID-19, a senior U.S. official said. "Signs of willingness to nudge bilateral conversations onto a more serious path could be a net positive for regional risk assets, but spillovers to sentiments could be constrained without more discernible translation to policy changes," analysts at Maybank said in a note. Prior to the market opening, the People"s Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 6.4566 per dollar, 49 pips or 0.08% firmer than the previous fix of 6.4615. In the spot market, the onshore yuan opened at 6.4552 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.4472 at midday, 88 pips firmer than the previous late session close. If the yuan finishes the late night session at the midday level, it would have gained 0.18% to the dollar for the week, booking the third straight winning week in a row. While Chinese markets have grown somewhat used to strained Sino-U.S. ties over trade and a host of other issues over the past few years, news of the leaders" phone call supported sentiment. "Overall it is a good sign," said a trader at a Chinese bank. However, some market participants also noted that a breach of the psychologically important 6.45 per dollar level has triggered dollar demand from both corporate clients and banks" proprietary accounts to limit the gains in the yuan. Markets are now awaiting China"s August credit and activity data in the coming week for more clues on the health of the economy. While exports beat analysts" forecasts and lending is seen rebounding, industrial output and retail sales growth are expected to weaken further, adding to the debate over whether more stimulus is needed. In global markets, the dollar headed for its first winning week in three, after rebounding from a payrolls-induced sell-off, as investors continued to ponder the timing of a tapering of Federal Reserve stimulus. By midday, the global dollar index fell to 92.486 from the previous close of 92.532, while the offshore yuan was trading at 6.4418 per dollar. The yuan market at 0401 GMT: ONSHORE SPOT: Item Current Previous Change PBOC midpoint 6.4566 6.4615 0.08% Spot yuan 6.4472 6.456 0.14% Divergence from -0.15% midpoint* Spot change YTD 1.26% Spot change since 2005 28.37% revaluation Key indexes: Item Current Previous Change Thomson 98.89 98.82 0.1 Reuters/HKEX CNH index Dollar index 92.486 92.532 -0.1 *Divergence of the dollar/yuan exchange rate. Negative number indicates that spot yuan is trading stronger than the midpoint. The People"s Bank of China (PBOC) allows the exchange rate to rise or fall 2% from official midpoint rate it sets each morning. OFFSHORE CNH MARKET Instrument Current Difference from onshore Offshore spot yuan 6.4418 0.08% * Offshore 6.6221 -2.50% non-deliverable forwards ** *Premium for offshore spot over onshore **Figure reflects difference from PBOC"s official midpoint, since non-deliverable forwards are settled against the midpoint. . (Reporting by Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Kim Coghill) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.