China’s yuan hits new high against US dollar

The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, marched to a new record high against the US dollar on Monday. The yuan strengthened 58 basis points to reach 6.095 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 yuan’s rise was partly attributed to the poor US non-farm payroll data. The world’s biggest economy added only 74,000 non-farm jobs in December, far less than what the most conservative analysts forecast.The People’s Bank of China, or the central bank, on Friday set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at 6.1008, (Xinhua) news agency reported.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.