The exchange rate of the renminbi (RMB), China's currency, to US dollars closed at 8.0912 on Wednesday's interbank foreign exchange market, the highest since China raised the value of the RMB from around 8.28 to 8.11 per dollar on July 21, scrapping its peg to the dollar.

China Business News made the report on Thursday. The latest highest price of the yuan appeared on September 6, when its closing price relative to the US dollar hit 8.0913, the newspaper said.

Since July this year, China's exports have continued their fast growth, with trade surplus standing at a high position, so the sale of US dollars is active in the market, leading to the robust yuan, the newspaper said.

In August, China's exports soared 32.1 percent year on year, with trade surplus totaling 10.04 billion US dollars, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

The imbalance of Sino-US trade has pushed the yuan to further appreciate against US dollars, the newspaper quoted a broker in a foreign-funded bank in Shanghai as saying.

It is not surprising for the yuan to keep hitting new highs since the public believes there is still room for the yuan to rise, the broker said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2005)