China's currency, the yuan, broke the 7.70 barrier for the first time on Tuesday, the first trading day after the week-long May Day holidays, according to the Chinese Foreign Exchange Trading System.

The central parity rate of the yuan, also known as Renminbi (RMB), stood at 7.6951 yuan to one U.S. dollar on Tuesday, gaining 104 basis points from the last trading day's reference rate of 7.7055 to the hard currency.

This is the 27th time since the beginning of the year that the yuan has set a new record, climbing 1,136 basis points, from 7.8087 yuan to one U.S. dollar posted on the last business day of 2006.

On Tuesday, the yuan gained ground against the Japanese yen. It reached 6.4080 yuan to 100 yen, up 361 basis points, from the last trading day's level.

The local currency also gained 369 basis points from 10.4999 yuan to one euro on the first trading day after the "golden week holidays".

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