The central parity rate of China's currency, the renminbi (RMB), also known as yuan, strengthened 98 basis points Friday to 6.6610 per U.S. dollar from Thursday's 6.6708, according to the data released by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

China's central bank announced on June 19 this year that it would further the reform of the formation mechanism of the yuan exchange rate to increase its flexibility.