The yuan closed up versus the dollar on Tuesday as the People's Bank of China set a sharply higher mid-point, letting the currency resume appreciation ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States. The central bank let the mid-point, or its fixing from which the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent in a given day, rise 0.2 percent, its biggest single-day rise since November 11. Spot yuan finished at 6.6200 versus the dollar on Tuesday, up from Monday's close of 6.6377.
It has now risen 3.11 percent since its mid-June depegging. Three-month one-year non-deliverable dollar/yuan forwards (NDFs) fell to 6.5490 in late trade from Monday's 6.5660, implying yuan appreciation in three months' time of 1.11 percent. That's up from 0.85 percent but still lags the 2 percent appreciation foreseen by onshore traders for the first quarter. Benchmark one-year NDFs were bid at 6.4400 from Monday's close of 6.4590.