China's currency, the yuan, Monday set a new high against the U.S. dollar since the country depegged its currency from the greenback in July 2005.

On Monday, the central parity rate of the yuan, or Renminbi (RMB), was set at 6.8567 yuan against one dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The reference rate was up 72 basis points from the previous trading day level.

The yuan has risen more than 5.5 percent against the U.S. dollar so far this year, in comparison with the 6.9-percent gain last year, and has broken its own record high value 51 times.

Market observers believed that whether the U.S. dollar could continue the last week's rebound into this week would hinge upon Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke's declaration on U.S. economic and inflationary trends.

Monday also saw Renminbi gained 381 basis points against the European currency to 10.7372 yuan for one euro and 137 basis points against Japan's currency to 6.4201 yuan for 100 Japanese yen.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2008)