Yuan continues to weaken against US dollar

BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua): The central parity rate of the Chinese yuan weakened against the US dollar for a fifth trading day in a row Wednesday.

The central parity rate weakened 186 basis points to 6.4207 against the US dollar Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).

The latest decline has brought the yuan-dollar exchange rate to the lowest level since January.

Analysts said the depreciation was a result of a stronger dollar.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.93 per cent from May 22 to May 28. On Tuesday alone, it gained 0.46 per cent to 94.848 in late trading.

The strong dollar also pushed down the CFETS RMB Index, which measures the yuan's strength relative to a basket of currencies, by 0.25 points to 97.63 last week, the first weekly decline in seven weeks.