The yuan dipped against the United States dollar last week after the central bank announced more measures to ensure liquidity in the market.

The yuan finished at 6.8349 against the US dollar last Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The Chinese currency ended at 6.8317 on the last trading day of the previous week.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced on Wednesday the sharpest cut in rates in nearly one decade when it slashed one-year lending and deposit rates by 1.08 percentage points.

The US Dollar Index rose last week after the US government agreed to back Citigroup with a US$20-billion capital injection and investors' holdings of US bonds increased.

Zhang Ping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner, said on Thursday China would stick to its present currency policy and keep the yuan stable.

(Shanghai Daily December 1, 2008)