Declining dollar lifts yuan to record high

The central bank yesterday set the yuan's mid-point against the US dollar at 6.8128, with the Chinese currency hitting a new post-revaluation high for a fifth straight day.

The gloomy prospect of the US economy has weakened the greenback. In contrast, the yuan has risen about 7 percent this year, more than the margin for the whole of last year.

Exporters and manufacturers, especially the smaller ones, are groaning under pressure created by the rising yuan, with many of them being forced to shut shop.