BEIJING -- The Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, Friday weakened against the US dollar as the central parity rate of the yuan was set at 6.5017 per US dollar.

The yuan weakened by 12 basis points from the previous trading day. It hit a record new high of 6.4948 per US dollar on Wednesday.

On China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the renminbi against the US dollaris based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.