China's central bank on Friday set the official midpoint reference for the yuan at 7.0136 per dollar — the weakest level since April 3, 2008 but stronger than what analysts were expecting.

It was the second time this week that the People's Bank of China set the daily benchmark at a weaker level than the psychologically important 7-yuan-per-dollar.

That followed Thursday's midpoint rate of 7.0039 yuan per dollar. Analysts were expecting China to set the midpoint at 7.0222 per dollar on Friday, according to Reuters estimates.

Onshore yuan traded at 7.0487 per dollar while the offshore yuan traded at 7.0725 at 2:42 p.m. HK/SIN Friday.

"The pressure on the yuan will be, if anything, on the downside as long as we have uncertainties surrounding the broader outlook in trade and some other issues," " Mikio Kumada, executive director and global strategist at LGT Capital Partners, told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Friday. "And also because the direction that the Chinese domestic economy is going is one that requires more stimulus and easing."

"That's not something that fundamentally strengthens a currency," he said.

The PBOC will "manage to keep (the yuan) broadly stable — probably for a while, it will keep a 7 handle and slightly north to 8. But I wouldn't expect too weak a yuan going forward either," Kumada added.