BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened against the U.S. dollar for the fifth consecutive trading day.

Photo: VCG

The central parity rate strengthened 111 pips to 6.9403 against the U.S. dollar Thursday, marking its strongest since Jan. 23, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).

In the spot forex market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day. 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.

Analysts attributed the stronger yuan to China's gradually stabilized economy as the government's intensified measures in curbing the spread of the virus have gradually filtered through.

China has vowed a host of measures including maintaining sufficient liquidity and lowering funding costs to bolster its real economy.

Cao Yuanyuan, an analyst with Golden Credit Rating International Co., Ltd., noted that improved innate resilience of yuan's exchange rate, coupled with the use of counter-cyclical adjustment policies, have underpinned the yuan's strength despite the blow of outbreak.

The yuan's recent appreciation against the dollar will make RMB assets more attractive, according to Cheng Shi, chief economist of ICBC International, adding that yuan-based assets will remain appealing to international investors in the long-term as the country maintains stable economic growth.

The CFETS yuan exchange rate composite index, which measures the yuan's strength relative to a basket of currencies, came in at 93.1 on Feb. 28, unchanged from a week earlier, according to the CFETS.