BEIJING - The Chinese currency renminbi (RMB), or the yuan, on Friday strengthened to an all-time high of 6.5671 per US dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

Friday's central parity rate of the RMB against US dollar was 24 basis points lower than the previous record of 6.5695 set on Thursday.

The yuan has appreciated 3.81 percent since June 19 last year when the People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced it would further reform the exchange rate formation mechanism to improve its flexibility.

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 RMB against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market for each business day.