BEIJING, Dec. 30 -- The Chinese currency Renminbi, or the yuan, marched to a new record high against the U.S. dollar on Monday.

The yuan strengthened 26 basis points to reach 6.1024 per U.S. dollar, the strongest since July 2005, when the country launched reforms of the exchange rate mechanism, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, on Friday set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at 6.1050, stronger than Thursday's 6.1156.

The value of the yuan has risen nearly 3 percent against the greenback since the start of this year.

In China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 1 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.