BEIJING, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The value of the renminbi (RMB) against the U.S. dollar hit a new high on Thursday for the sixth consecutive day of trading.

    The central parity rate of the RMB against the U.S. dollar was 7.9264 yuan to one U.S. dollar on Thursday.

    At the first session of China-France financial and economic forums in Beijing, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China said there would be no timetable for a further widening of the daily floating band between the RMB and the U.S. dollar.

    China set a floating band of 0.3 percent when it launched a reform of the RMB exchange rate system last July. The floating band allows the yuan to rise or fall 0.3 percent on the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

    On Monday, the RMB's value against the U.S. dollar on the inter-bank market rose 0.29 percent from the central parity rate.

    Widening the floating band would make both investors and speculators more cautious, which would help stabilize the RMB, said Tan Yaling, director of the China International Economic Relationship Society,

    However, it depended on the timing, she said.

    If the exchange rate rose or dropped sharply, it meant the current floating band was narrow, said Zhou Xiaochuan during the IMF and World Bank meetings held in Singapore last week.

    Supply and demand would determine whether and when the floating band would be expanded, he said.

    The recent rise in value of the RMB is considered to be a response to the decision on Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged for the second month in a row.

    Tan Yaling said the future effects were likely to be limited.

    Although the United States did not raise the interest rate, its interest remained higher than China's, said Tan.

    China has seen a continuous appreciation of its RMB since the central bank raised the one-year benchmark interest rate on Aug. 19. The country's rocketing trade surplus also contributed to the appreciation of the RMB.

    Last month China's trade surplus hit a monthly high of 18.8 billion U.S. dollars, with exports rising 32.8 percent to 90.77 billion U.S. dollars.

    Tan Yaling attributed the continuous appreciation in RMB to multiple factors. One was the call for an appreciation by financial chiefs of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Singapore last week, she said.

    The G7 financial chiefs said in a statement after the meeting that "greater exchange rate flexibility is desirable in emerging economies with large current account surpluses, especially China, for necessary adjustments to occur".

    Zhou Xiaochuan said during the IMF and World Bank meetings held afterwards that China's move to a flexible exchange rate regime would be "gradual".

    Visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged China on Wednesday to further open its capital market.

    Saying he was not looking for "quick fixes" to the currency or trade deficit issues, Paulson said China could further its currency reform when "a competitive and open financial market system" had been established.

    Congressional calls from the United States were raising expectations of the market for further appreciation, said Tan,

    U.S. senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham have said they will push for a vote on September 29 on their legislation to impose 27.5 percent penalty tariffs on Chinese imports unless China moves to allow greater appreciation.

    Tan said the bill was more about politics than economics and would harm the interests of both China and the United States if passed. Enditem