Renminbi rises to 17-year high

China’s currency spiked to a record high against the US dollar Wednesday, following the release of new figures showing a rise in China’s trade surplus, the Wall Street Journal reported.  The renminbi finished Wednesday at 6.417 to the dollar on the over-the-counter market, compared with 6.4404 on Friday before a US credit rating downgrade. The strengthening Chinese currency – usually kept in a narrow trading band by China’s central bank – may indicate that China is willing to accept a faster pace of appreciation to help offset inflation by putting downward pressure on the prices of imported goods. “The central bank may speed up the rise in the yuan to alleviate domestic inflationary pressures in the near future,” said ANZ Bank (ANZ.ASX) economist Liu Ligang, who added that the renminbi is expected to appreciate by about 6% against the dollar in 2011.