Chinese yuan strengthens to 6.7042 against USD Tuesday

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the CHINESE currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 56 basis points to 6.7042 against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, according to the CHINA Foreign Exchange Trade System.

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 dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, decreased 0.09 percent at 96.5640 in late trading on Monday.

Concerns over slowing global growth were triggered last Friday after the so-called yield curve inverted for the first time in more than a decade and the downbeat sentiment persisted through Monday.

CHINA will maintain a flexible renminbi exchange rate and push forward reform of the foreign exchange regime, said Pan Gongsheng, vice governor of the central bank.

"CHINA is working to improve the flexibility of the renminbi exchange rate while maintaining the rate at a stable equilibrium. We have successfully avoided competitive depreciation against other major currencies," he was quoted as saying by CHINA Daily on Tuesday.

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.