Chinese yuan relatively stable against rising U.S. dollar: official

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Compared with the world's major currencies, the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB), or the yuan, has posted a stable performance in value against the rising U.S. dollar so far this year, an official said Friday.

"In terms of the multilateral exchange rate, the RMB exchange rate index appreciated by 0.1 percent, indicating that the RMB remained stable against a basket of currencies," Wang Chunying, a spokesperson for the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told a press conference.

The U.S. dollar index had risen over 11 percent by July 21. The euro, the pound, and the yen had fallen between 10 and 17 percent against the greenback during this period, while the yuan had fallen 5.8 percent against the dollar.

Wang said in the first half of this year, Chinese enterprises used derivatives such as forwards and options to manage exchange rate risks, with the total volume exceeding 750 billion U.S. dollars, marking a year-on-year increase of 29 percent.

This shows the improved awareness of exchange rate risk hedging among Chinese market entities and their abilities to adapt to fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate, Wang said.