Yuan at record high as US Congress set to review policy

Shanghai: Adept at dodging impending action against them – for being the world's worst polluter, or for currency manipulation - China reacted fast to comments from US treasury secretary Timothy Geithener that it had done ''...very, very little...'' to ease its control over the currency's market value, by allowing it to rise to a record high against the dollar.

Geithener's sentiments combines with the fact that that the US House Ways and Means Committee discusses China's currency policy on 15-16 September.

The yuan, or the renminbi, gained 0.06 per cent to 6.7650 per dollar as of 9:47 am in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. Ostensibly, the rise comes after government data showed faster manufacturing growth than economists expected and accelerating inflation.

So far, Geithner has been issuing soothing noises in the face of aggressive noises from Sen Charles Schumer and co, who has been arguing vociferously that the US should declare China as a currency manipulator and let it face the consequences of such an action.

In an interview Geithner said, "China took the very important step in June of signalling that they're going to let the exchange rate start to reflect market forces. But they've done very, very little... they've let it move very, very little in the interim."

The currency gained 0.1 per cent to 6.7618 per dollar as of 5:30 pm in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, touching a high of 6.7568 today. This was the strongest level recorded since of 1993.