The yuan closed at an all-time trading high against the dollar on Friday after the People's Bank of China fixed the currency's mid-point at a record high for the third day in a row. But the yuan's strength lagged the 1 percent fall in the US Dollar Index overnight.
The lukewarm performance in the yuan was guided by the PBOC's fixing, indicating the currency's appreciation was still tightly controlled by the central bank, traders said. Spot yuan closed at an all-time high of 6.4455 against the dollar, up from 6.4516 at the close on Thursday when it also hit an intraday historical trading high of 6.4505.
It has now appreciated 5.9 percent since it was depegged from the dollar in June 2010 and 22.23 percent so far this year Before trade began the PBOC fixed the yuan's mid-point at a record high of 6.4495, up from the previous day's historical high of 6.4536.
Offshore, benchmark one-year dollar/yuan non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) were bid at 6.3775 in late trade, down slightly from 6.3900 at Thursday's close. Their implied yuan rise in a year's time rose to 1.12 percent from 0.93 percent.