The People's Bank of China on Friday raised the yuan's central parity rate, which restricts onshore moves to 2 percent on either side, by 0.51 percent to 6.4628, the highest level in three months.

    The onshore yuan climbed to 6.4625 to the dollar in Shanghai, up 214 basis points from Thursday's close, according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices. The offshore yuan gained more than 200 basis points to 6.4443 a dollar, Xinhua reported.

    The hike in the yuan's exchange rate came after the US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark short-term interest rates unchanged and reduced the number of expected rate hikes this year, which triggered a slump in the US dollar.

    The yuan weakened against the dollar by 4.7 percent in 2015. However, Chinese authorities have repeatedly denied that there is any basis for continued weakness of the Chinese currency.