China's yuan closed at its highest level ever on Monday after the central bank set a firmer midpoint in response to hopes that Cyprus will avoid a banking crisis, but traders remained cautious about betting on further appreciation. Spot yuan closed at 6.2107 per dollar, its highest closing level ever and just shy of the all-time intraday high of 6.2095 touched in the morning session.
The spot rate has closely tracked movements in the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) daily midpoint in recent weeks, and that pattern continued on Monday. The PBOC fixed the yuan at 6.2692 on Monday morning, its strongest fixing since January 15 and 0.03 percent stronger than Friday's midpoint.