China's currency, the yuan, on Tuesday hit a new high against the weakening US dollar on the recovery of oil prices on global markets.

The central parity rate of the yuan, or Renminbi (RMB), was 6.8009 yuan to the dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The reference rate was up 234 basis points from the previous trading day.

This was the first time the Chinese currency broke the 6.81-mark after it unpegged from the dollar in July 2005. The previous high was 6.8128 yuan on July 16. The yuan lost against the dollar most of the time over the past two months due largely to expectations of US economic resurgence.

The RMB has appreciated more than 7 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year and rose more than 21 percent since July 2005.

Analysts attributed Tuesday's appreciation to a weakening dollar amid worries about the US financial regime and the recovery of oil prices on global markets, despite the US$700 billion market boosting schemes proposed by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve.

On Tuesday, the RMB lost 19.84 basis points against the euro to hit 10.0796 yuan, and 773 basis points against 100 Japanese yen to 6.3847 yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2008)