The yuan finished at 6.8268 against the US dollar on the over-the-counter (OTC) market Wednesday, up from Tuesday's close of 6.8271.
Based on today's parity, the yuan is up 0.13% y/y against the dollar.
The yuan fell 0.06% in 2009 as the government continued to hold the Chinese unit virtually pegged to the U.S. dollar, despite growing international criticism about its exchange rate policy. It barely moved in December, rising by just 0.001% over the month versus November's 0.06% depreciation.
Last year marked the first that the yuan has fallen against the dollar since being depegged in 2005. 2009's paltry move against the dollar compares with last year's 7.05% rise and with the 6.86% jump seen in 2007.
Today's fixing brings the yuan's gains against the greenback to 21.22% since currency reforms were announced on July 21, 2005, including that day's one-off 2.1% revaluation.
The yuan was set lower against the euro but higher versus the yen today.
The PBOC set the yuan parity against the euro at 9.9220 today, down from the 9.8829 fixing the previous trading day. The yuan is down 9.12% y/y against the euro based on today's fixing.
The yuan depreciated 1.41% against the euro last year, a dramatic shift from its 10.43% jump in 2008 and only marginally better than the 3.75% fall in 2008.
The yuan was also fixed at 7.4684 to the Japanese yen, up from the previous session's 7.4783. The yuan is up 2.66% y/y against the yen based on today's fixing.
The Chinese currency rose 2.53% against the Japanese yen in 2009, a turnaround from 2008's 15.32% depreciation.
The People's Bank of China started setting a daily central parity rate on Jan. 4, 2007.
On July 21, 2005, China freed the yuan from its longstanding peg to the dollar in favor of a managed float with reference to a basket of currencies.
On May 21, 2007, the PBOC widened the daily fluctuation band for the yuan-dollar exchange rate to 0.5% from 0.3% on either side of the central parity rate.
