THE yuan yesterday hit the strongest level against the US dollar in 19 years despite an unexpected trade deficit in March and a downgrade of China's sovereign ratings by Fitch.

The yuan closed at 6.1939 per US dollar yesterday after touching 6.1923, the strongest since China unified market and official rates at the end of 1993. It is the fourth time the yuan has hit a new record in the past three weeks.

The People's Bank of China set the central parity rate at 6.2548, up 0.15 percent from Tuesday's and also the strongest in 19 years. The yuan can trade 1 percent on each side of the central parity rate.

Analysts and economists see the yuan to rise further to around 6.1 against the greenback by the end of this year on improving economic prospects.

Meanwhile, direct trading of the yuan and the Australian dollar started yesterday, making the latter the third currency to be directly traded with the Chinese currency after the US dollar and the yen.

China yesterday reported a trade gap of US$880 million on lower-than-expected exports and strong imports. The stronger yuan also ignored a Fitch downgrading of China's long-term local currency credit rating from AA- to A+ on concerns over the government's liability.