China's yuan strengthens to new high against US dollar

The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, marched to a new record high against the US dollar on Tuesday. The yuan strengthened 55 basis points to reach 6.0969 per US dollar, the strongest since July 2005, when the country launched reforms of the exchange rate mechanism, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, on Monday set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at 6.1024, stronger than the previous trading day, China's (Xinhua) News Agency reported. The value of the yuan has risen nearly 3% against the greenback since the start of this year. In China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 1% from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.