SINGAPORE, Nov 28 Reuters The dollar climbed on Monday as protests in China against the government39;s antiCOVID policies made investors turn away from riskier assets, and consigned the Chinese yuan to a more than twoweek low against the safehaven greenback.

The protests have flared across China and spread to several cities in the wake of an apartment fire that killed 10 people in Urumqi in the country39;s far west. Hundreds of demonstrators and police clashed in Shanghai on Sunday night.

Investors were worried over how the government in Beijing would react to the the wave of civil disobedience when COVID cases are rising.

We39;re really looking at the government response to what39;s happening … the government response is so unpredictable, and of course that just means derisking, said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

The offshore yuan fell to an over twoweek low in Asian trading, and was last roughly 0.4 lower at 7.2242 per dollar.

The Australian dollar, often used as a liquid proxy for the yuan, slid more than 1 to 0.6681. The kiwi fell 0.72 to 0.6202.

China39;s stringent COVID restrictions have taken a heavy toll on its economy, and authorities have implemented various measures to revive growth. On Friday, the People39;s Bank of China PBOC, the nation39;s central bank, said it would cut the reserve requirement ratio RRR for banks by 25 basis points bps, effective from Dec. 5.

If the RRR cut is the only monetary policy tool that the PBOC is…