China's currency has soared against the euro and the British pound since the beginning of August, and analysts believe it looks set to continue its dramatic appreciation in the fourth quarter, adversely affecting some Chinese exporters.

Data from the China Foreign Exchange Trading System shows that from the end of July to Monday, the yuan appreciated 10.79 percent against the euro and 8.39 percent against the pound.

This compared with only 7.75 percent against the euro and 0.13 percent against the pound from January to July.

However, the RMB has lost against the US dollar most of the time over the last two months since it hit a record high of 6.8128 yuan on July 16.

Analysts attributed the halted appreciation of yuan against dollar to slump in other major currencies.

Yang Shengkun, an analyst with CITIC Bank, said on Tuesday it was expected that the central bank of Europe would cut interest rates again amid the ongoing economic downturn in the fourth quarter.

Yang said China's yuan gained against the European currency in a quicker way over the past month, due largely to economic slowdown in the euro zone.

Since the beginning of the year, the RMB gained 6.71 percent against the US dollar, 8.53 percent against the euro and 19.37 percent against the pound.

On Tuesday, the central parity rate of the RMB went up 56 basis points against the US dollar, 1,733 basis points against the euro and 943 basis points against the pound.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2008)