The yuan closed up slightly on Thursday, but at the bottom of its daily trading band, after the central bank set the mid-point at a record high, underlining its intention of letting the currency appreciate at a quicker pace during the Group of 20 meeting in France.
The yuan traded far below the historically high mid-point fixing of 6.3198 on Thursday and edged down toward the weaker end of its daily trading limit due to bank clients' strong dollar demands. The spread is around 456 pips between offshore yuan, at 6.3970, and spot yuan, at 6.3514. The yuan closed at 6.3573 on Wednesday.
The Chinese currency, also known as renminbi, has risen 3.75 percent so far this year and 7.48 percent since it was depegged from the dollar in June 2010. Before trading began, the PBOC set the mid-point of the day at 6.3198, the highest level since the 2005 revaluation. The central bank uses the fixing to signal the government's intentions for the yuan. Offshore, one-year dollar/yuan non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) ended at 6.3675, from 6.3690 at the close on Wednesday. They implied yuan depreciation of 0.75 percent in 12 months from Thursday's PBOC mid-point.