(Reuters) - China's yuan started trading against the Australian dollar and Canadian dollar in the country's onshore forex market on Monday, the latest currency pairs to be introduced as part of Beijing's efforts to promote the use of its currency.

The yuan opened at 6.1266 against the Canadian dollar after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan/ Canadian dollar's mid-point at 6.1048.

It opened at 6.2769 against the Australian dollar, also slightly weaker compared with the PBOC's fixing of 6.2491. The currency pairs are moving roughly around their opening prices.

The pricing of the yuan largely reflected the value of the yuan against the U.S. dollar and the dollar's value against the Australian and Canadian dollars, traders said.

They added that it would take time for the yuan, which has been closed linked to the U.S. dollar, to trade more independently against the two newer currency pairs.

The yuan can rise or fall 3 percent versus the two currencies from the PBOC's mid-points each day, according to an exchange announcement last Thursday.

The yuan can move only 0.5 percent to the dollar in either direction from the fixing in a day.

Trading in these two new currency pairs comes after the China Foreign Exchange Trade System started yuan trading against the rouble in November 2010.

The domestic market now trades a total of nine currencies against the yuan, including the new currency pairs.

(Reporting by Lu Jianxin and Jacqueline Wong)