China's yuan hit its weakest level in six months against the dollar in offshore markets on Thursday, hurt by signs from policy sources that Beijing may be willing to see it fall to 6.80 per dollar Government economists and advisers involved in regular policy discussions told Reuters the People's Bank of China was willing to let the currency depreciate by as much as last year's record decline of around 5 percent. That knocked offshore rates for the yuan to as high as 6.70 as London traders came on line, and pushed the Australian dollar almost 1 percent lower on the day. The pound was steady on the day against the dollar by midday in London and more generally is around 3 cents above lows hit on Monday after its biggest two-day fall in the modern era of free-floating exchange rates. By 1200 GMT, the yuan was trading down 0.2 percent on the day at 6.6654 per dollar. The Australian dollar was down a third of a percent at $0.7435. The dollar remained near a 3-1/2-month high against a basket of currencies hit in the wake of last Thursday's British vote .