The yuan is set to rise this week on continued weakness in the US dollar, and China's 12-year high inflation data will also be a contributing factor.

The Chinese currency finished at 7.0894 to the greenback last Friday, up from 7.1059 a week earlier. The yuan rose to an intraday high of 7.0844 against the greenback on Friday, the strongest since China scrapped the currency's peg with the US dollar in July 2005.

The yuan climbed as the US currency touched a record low against the euro last Friday on concerns increasing credit-market losses will push the world's biggest economy into a recession.

China's statistics bureau reported last Tuesday inflation worsened to 8.7 percent in February against 7.1 percent in January.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, has said the yuan will be one of many weapons in the fight against inflation.

(Shanghai Daily March 17, 2008)