The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic agency, forecast a slight appreciation of the yuan while rejecting fears of an economic hard landing in a report published on Thursday.
"That certainly played a role in pushing up the yuan," said a trader with a major state lender.
The world's seventh largest economy has been growing at 9 percent or more for nine consecutive quarters despite measures by Beijing to moderate the rate of growth.
Dealers also attributed the yuan's strength to US dollar weakness on global markets. The dollar fell on Thursday after hitting a two-year high against the yen as news that General Motors could be investigated for its accounting practices accelerated selling in the US currency.
The yuan, which moved in a 37-tick range on Thursday, has now appreciated a further 0.29 percent since the July move.
Dealers said the currency would most likely move in a tight 50- to 60-tick range in the near term, while continuing its upward climb.
The yuan firmed against the euro to close at 9.7902 compared with 9.7957 on Wednesday, and strengthened to 7.0002 per 100 yen from 7.0204, the central bank said on its Web site.
One-year onshore yuan forwards were quoted at 7.8450 to the dollar on Thursday, indicating that the market believes the yuan would be 2.9 percent firmer in a year's time. No deal was completed on Thursday.