Central bank pegs yuan rate at new record high

BEIJING - The People's Bank of China set the yuan's reference rate at a new record high of 6.4988 per dollar on Monday, right ahead of the annual China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Washington.

The central bank set the yuan's reference rate 0.02 percent stronger than it was the previous trading day, the biggest change since July 2005 when China started to liberalize the yuan's exchange rate.

As of 5 pm in Shanghai, the yuan was being traded at 6.4937 per dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.