The yuan traded in a tight three-notch range with an intraday high of 8.2771 and a low of 8.2773. Turnover rose to a heavy US$570 million from US$480 million in the previous session.

It fell a touch on Wednesday to 8.2774 on importer dollar demand. Over the longer term, dealers said they expected the yuan to stay near the firm end of the 8.2760 to 8.2800 range which the central People's Bank of China usually enforces.

"Steady dollar inflow into the market helped the yuan recover immediately," said a domestic bank dealer. "We expect the yuan to continue to move around the 8.2770 level in the near term."

The Shanghai-based national foreign exchange market has seen strong dollar supply this year, helped by China's exports which rose 20.6 percent year on year to US$262.5 billion in the first 10 months of 2002, with a trade surplus of US$24.74 billion.

The yuan's value is driven primarily by trade flows since it is fully convertible only on the current account.

The yuan firmed against the Japanese currency to 6.8629 versus 100 yen from Wednesday's 6.9041 and rose to 8.3330 from 8.3690 against the euro. It closed one notch stronger at 1.0608 against the Hong Kong dollar from 1.0609.

(China Daily November 15, 2002)