BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, advanced Monday to its highest level since Dec. 8, 2015.
The central parity rate of the yuan, strengthened 57 basis points to 6.4112 against the U.S. dollar Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
The rise came after the yuan strengthened 232 basis points to 6.4169 against the U.S. dollar Friday.
The U.S. dollar lost against its peers Monday as a U.S. government shutdown dented sentiment.
"The yuan's robust performance was the result of a weaker dollar, sound economic fundamentals, improved regulation of capital flows and increased global use of the currency," said Liu Jian, a researcher of the Bank of Communications.
China's economy totaled 82.7 trillion yuan (about 13 trillion U.S. dollars) in volume in 2017, expanding 6.9 percent as it picked up the pace for the first time in seven years.
China's forex reserves ended the downward trajectory of the previous two years to gain 129.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, while its current account surplus remained in a reasonable range and the financial account saw net capital inflow in the first three quarters of last year.
"The Chinese yuan will continue to be stable as China's monetary policy will be kept neutral in 2018," said Sheng Songcheng, an advisor to the central bank.
In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.
