(Yicai Global) Dec. 7 -- This week, the Chinese yuan advanced the most against the US dollar in a single week since January, spurred partly by new rays of hope shed in the trade front between China and the US. 

The redback rose 638 basis points against the US dollar during this week. The two largest economies in the world agreed on a temporary trade truce at the G20 summit in Argentina on Dec. 1. 

The onshore yuan's spot rate closed at 6.8798, which was 39 points stronger than yesterday's close. The currency pair traded in the range of 6.86-6.89 for the day.

The offshore spot exchange rate was 6.8803 at 4.36pm.

The People's Bank of China set the central parity rate at 6.8664 Friday morning, which was 693 basis points stronger for the redback than on the same weekday last week. This was also the biggest weekly gain since January. In the domestic spot market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the midpoint.

In the first two trading days of the week, the cumulative rise of the yuan against the US dollar reached a whopping 1215 basis points in the onshore market. The yuan walked back some of the gains later.

Editor: Emmi Laine