BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese currency yuan posted a rebound against the U.S. dollar on Friday after weakening for five days in a row.
The central parity was set at 6.8357 yuan against the U.S. dollar on Friday, compared with 6.8369 yuan on the previous trading day, according to the Peoples Bank of China, the central bank.
The yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar for five days as cautious investors lifted the U.S. currency. The gloomy economic data of the U.S. manufacturing sector led investors to increase their purchases of the U.S. dollar.
The yuans exchange rate against the U.S. dollar has frequently been raised during meetings between top Chinese and U.S. officials. American policy makers have long pushed Beijing to accelerate the appreciation of the yuan, arguing that it is undervalued against the dollar and gives Chinas exports an unfair price advantage.
The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will embark on her first trip in office to China on Friday, which is the final leg of her week-long trip to Asia that also has included Japan, Indonesia and South Korea.
Deng Xianhong, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said Wednesday that preventing the yuan from large fluctuations was beneficial to both China and the world in tackling the global financial crisis.
China unpegged the yuan from the U.S. dollar in July 2005 and allowed it to fluctuate against a basket of currencies. It had risen nearly 20 percent as of Friday on that 2005 figure.
On Friday, the yuan was set at 8.6372 yuan against the euro, compared with 8.5967 yuan on Thursday.