The yuan finished at 6.8269 against the US dollar on the over-the-counter (OTC) market Monday, unchanged from last Friday's close.
Based on today's parity, the yuan is up 0.16% y/y against the dollar over the last 12 months.
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. The paltry move against the dollar last year compares with the 7.05% rise in 2008 and the 6.86% jump seen in 2007.
Today's fixing brings the yuan's gains against the greenback to 21.23% 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 against the yen today.
The PBOC set the yuan parity against the euro at 9.6734 today, down from the 9.6605 fixing the previous trading day. The yuan is down 8.21% 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.
The yuan was also fixed at 7.5481 to the Japanese yen, up from the previous session's 7.5851. The yuan is up 1.63% 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.
