China set the daily reference rate – the center of the 1% band around which the renminbi can trade – at a record high of 6.7896 per dollar Friday, reported Bloomberg. The new reference rate was 0.3% stronger than Thursday’s and 0.15 higher than the previous close in the spot market. The move follows an announcement Saturday that the People’s Bank of China would end the renminbi’s fixed peg to the dollar, and precedes China’s meeting with other heads of state at the G20 summit in Canada this weekend. China has tended to offer concessions on the renminbi in the days leading up to international meetings in an attempt to mollify foreign officials critical of its currency policy.
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