(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-02-19 11:18

China's currency yuan has gained new impetus to rise in value lately, as it jumped to a new record high against the US dollar on Tuesday.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, set the yuan's central parity rate at 7.1574 to the greenback, up from Monday's 7.1667. Market trading in Shanghai also reflected the upward trend. It also gained against a variety of other world's major currencies including the euro and Japanese yen.

The yuan, also called Renminbi, has appreciated about 2 percent since the beginning of 2008, after a massive 7 percent gain in 2007.

Monetary watchers say that the continuous weakening of the US dollar is the core reason behind a rapidly rising yuan. Also, faster appreciation is also being used to slow exports and ease pressure from overflowing liquidity now troubling China's financial machine.

Faster appreciation of the yuan has made China's exports on a slowing track. Customs figures just released by the government's trade authorities say the nation's trade surplus fell to $19 billion in January, compared to $23 billion registered in December and $27 billion in October.

It is widely estimated the yuan will gain value by a further 5-10 percent in 2008.