China's central bank raises Yuan fixing by most in three weeks

China's currency jumped at the end of the week after a top central bank official said the yuan and the country's monetary policies will remain stable, apparently helping to curb worries of further easing moves.

Speaking on Friday, People's Bank of China deputy governor Yi Gang appeared to voice support for the currency ahead of this weekend's National People's Congress.

Yi also said that while the exchange rate uses a basket of currencies as a guide, it was not "strictly" tied to it.

The yuan strengthened by 0.27% to 6.5173 a dollar, taking its advance for the week to 0.37%.

In parallel, the PBoC lifted the value of its daily fixing by 0.2%, the most in almost three weeks.

At the weekend Congress, China's Ministry of Finance was expected to unveil a looser fiscal stance in its Budget, while the new Five-Year plan might include details on the country's infrastructure investment plans.

Both would serve as reminders that Beijing, "has not yet run out of options to support the economy," Capital Economics said in a research report sent to clients on 2 March.

Chinese officials were also likely to unveil their latest set of targets for growth in gross domestic product for this year and beyond "that are unrealistically high and will do nothing for policy-making credibility," the think-tank said.