1st LD-Writethru: Chinese yuan strengthens to new high against USD Monday

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the Chinese currency, the renminbi or the yuan, strengthened to a new 20-month high against the U.S. dollar on Monday.

The rate strengthened 83 basis points to 6.4832 against the U.S. dollar Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

This marks a new high since May 3, 2016, after the rate rallied to 6.4915 on Friday.

The currency's robust performance was the result of a weaker dollar, sound economic fundamentals, improved regulation of capital flows, a relatively tightened monetary environment and increased global use of the currency, said a report from Suning Commerce R&D Center.

"The RMB will continue to be stable in 2018 on the back of a stable foreign exchange policy of the central government," said the report.

A statement released after the Central Economic Work Conference in December reiterated that the yuan's exchange rate will be kept basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level in 2018.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. Enditem