国内英语新闻:China's yuan hits new high at 6.6693 against U.S. dollar Wednesday

BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The value of yuan, China's currency Renminbi, hit new high against U.S. dollar Wednesday as the central parity rate of the yuan was set at 6.6693 per U.S. dollar, according to the data released by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

Wednesday's central parity rate beat the previous record of 6.6732 on Oct. 11.

The yuan has picked up its strength against the U.S. dollars and seen increased volatility in the trading days since the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced on June 19 this year to increase exchange rate flexibility.

Based on Wednesday's central parity, the Chinese currency has strengthened against the U.S. dollar by about 2.32 percent from the rate of 6.8275 per U.S. dollar that was set a day before the PBOC's pledge to increase flexibility.

On China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate during trading each day.

The PBOC released the yuan's central parity rates against a basket of currencies -- the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen, the Hong Kong dollar, the British pound and the Malaysian Ringgit.

The yuan's parity rate against the euro was set by the central bank at 9.294 Wednesday, lower from 9.2574 on Oct. 12, the previous trading day.

The yuan's rate against 100 yen was 8.1477 Wednesday, compared with 8.124 on Tuesday.