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

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the Chinese currency, the renminbi or yuan, advanced to a new high against the U.S. dollar Tuesday.

The central parity rate of the Chinese yuan strengthened 377 basis points to 6.2816 against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, the strongest level since Aug. 11, 2015, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

The adjustment came after a rise of 79 basis points to 6.3193 against the U.S. dollar on Monday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.46 percent at 89.027 in late trading on Monday.

Analysts said investors' appetite for safe-haven currencies like the greenback declined amid eased tensions in China-U.S. trade relations.

"There is no winner in a trade war," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday, calling for a rational and earnest attitude when addressing the problem of China-U.S. trade imbalance.

Li urged the international community to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system with free trade as its corner stone, and clearly oppose protectionism and unilateralism.

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