SHANGHAI, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A stronger dollar weighed on China"s yuan on Friday after robust U.S. economic data boosted expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will move soon to taper its asset purchases, and as China"s central bank set its daily fixing at a one-week low. After opening at 6.4550 per dollar, spot yuan touched its weakest point since Sept. 9 at 6.4626. It was guided lower after the People"s Bank of China set its midpoint rate at 6.4527 prior to market open, its softest fixing since Sept. 10. While the unit clawed back losses by midday to trade at 6.4548, slightly firmer against the greenback on the day, traders said it would continue to be led by moves in the U.S. dollar index. The offshore yuan also ticked up against the dollar on Friday to trade at 6.4525. "USDCNY rebounded more than 300 pips from lows, still mainly impacted by the direction of the dollar index and rising expectations of Fed tightening," said a trader at a foreign bank. "It"s possible it could still return to the 6.5 handle." The dollar index hit a 3-week high of 92.965 on Thursday after U.S. retail sales unexpectedly increased in August, defying slumping consumer confidence. It edged down to 92.86 on Thursday. Strong retail sales data could potentially temper expectations for a sharp slowdown in U.S. economic growth in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters this week had pushed their expectations back to November for a tightening policy shift by the U.S. central bank. Moves by U.S. monetary authorities toward tightening contrast with a focus on targeted easing in China. Concerns over the possible broader financial impact of a debt crisis at China Evergrande Group and a probable period of structural decline of the property sector could also weigh on the yuan, said Jonathan Petersen, markets economist at Capital Economics. "Growing financial stability risks (whether perceived or realised) may increase the likelihood of capital flight by both domestic and foreign investors ... To avoid a crisis and manage structural strains amid slowing growth, we expect further easing from policymakers in China," he said in a note. "We think that there will be more cuts to the RRR and the PBOC"s policy rates in the coming months. Cuts to the RRR have tended to precede falls in the renminbi, and we think this pattern will hold." The yuan market at 3:50AM GMT: ONSHORE SPOT: Item Current Previous Change PBOC midpoint 6.4527 6.433 -0.31% Spot yuan 6.4548 6.4558 0.02% Divergence from 0.03% midpoint* Spot change YTD 1.14% Spot change since 2005 28.22% revaluation Key indexes: Item Current Previous Change Thomson 99.1 99.06 0.0 Reuters/HKEX CNH index Dollar index 92.86 92.873 0.0 *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 6.4525 0.04% * Offshore 6.6353 -2.75% 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 Andrew Galbraith and Jindong Zhang; editing by Richard Pullin)