China's yuan closed near a post-revaluation high versus the dollar on Friday as the central bank kept out of the market, a day after its vice-governor repeated that the currency's value would be decided by market forces.
The central bank denied speculation swirling in markets from Tokyo to Singapore that Beijing could revalue the yuan by 1 percent as early as Friday evening, though such talk had not filtered through to domestic markets.
The Chinese currency marked its strongest post-revaluation level at 8.0960 per dollar just minutes before the close, exceeding a former high of 8.0971 set on August 15.
"As the central bank was less active today, dealers quietly nudged up the yuan," said a dealer with a foreign bank.
The yuan ended weaker against 100 yen at 7.3835 on Friday versus 7.3709 on Thursday, but it strengthened a tad versus the euro at 9.9617 versus 9.9661, according to the central bank's Web site.