International Pressure Makes Yuan Rise to Record vs. Dollar

The Chinese yuan climbed against the US dollar today to its highest level since 1993 on the speculation the Chinese policy makers will submit to the international pressure to allow the currency appreciate with faster pace.

China’s central bank set the reference rate at 6.6582 per dollar, the highest level since the end of the dollar-peg in July 2005. Timothy Geithner, the US Secretary of the Treasury, in his speech to the International Monetary Fund urged China to let the yuan appreciate faster. Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said yesterday the bill for the sanctions against China may pass in the Senate.

As with other currencies, the gains versus the dollar was not in small part due to the weakness of the dollar itself. The investors bet that the yuan will appreciate 3.5 percent further in span of a year.

USD/CNY dropped from 6.6522 to 6.6515 as of 22:54 GMT today. EUR/CNY fell form 9.3696 to 9.3614.

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