BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB), or the yuan, on Monday strengthened to an all-time high of 6.5651 per U.S. dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

Monday's central parity rate of the RMB against U.S. dollar was 20 basis points lower than the previous record of 6.5671 set on last Friday.

The yuan has appreciated 3.84 percent since June 19 last year when the People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced it would further reform the exchange rate formation mechanism to improve its flexibility.

On China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

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