The yuan climbed to a 19-year high as the central bank set a record reference rate amid growing usage of the currency for worldwide trade and investment.

Global yuan payments increased 32.7 percent in March from the previous month and the currency ranked 13th in terms of international payments, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication said today. Hong Kong Monetary Authority said today that value of trade settled in China's currency by the city's banks rose 45 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter to 830 billion yuan ($135 billion), while Australia's central bank announced plans yesterday to put about 5 percent of its foreign-exchange reserves in China.

“Australia's plan is very positive for the yuan as that suggests increasing demand,” said Banny Lam, the Hong Kong- based co-head of research at Agricultural Bank of China International Securities Ltd., a subsidiary of the nation's third-largest bank. “Capital inflows continue to be strong and band widening could happen as soon as this weekend. Yuan usage has been rising globally.”