New measures will make yuan more international: report

China's latest efforts to open up its foreign exchange (FX) market and facilitate use of the yuan will boost the currency's international acceptance, according to the latest report from China International Capital Corporation (CICC).

The moves will enhance the usability of yuan, also known as RMB, both as a reserve currency and as a settlement currency, said the investment bank.

China will open its onshore inter-bank FX market to foreign central banks and set up a cross-border yuan payment system before the end of 2015, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at the Summer Davos Forum in the northeastern city of Dalian on Thursday.

On the same day, Shanghai-based newspaper China Business News reported the central bank has eased restrictions for two-way cross-border RMB fund pooling, which allows multinational corporations to transfer yuan between their domestic and overseas entities.

Opening the FX market makes it easier for foreign central banks to hold RMB assets, while the upgrade of the cross-border RMB fund pooling scheme allows smoother flow of such funds, the CICC said.

Those measures will also buoy market sentiment and help mitigate the depreciation pressure for the yuan, according to the report.

The yuan's offshore spot rate against the U.S. dollar strengthened over 1 percent on Thursday, the biggest daily gain in years. Endi