The renminbi continued to advance in the futures market yesterday as pressure on China to let its currency appreciate intensified.

The communiqué following the meeting of finance ministers of the Asian Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Singapore called for “market-oriented” exchange rates and interest rates.

Flemming Nielsen at Danske Bank said this was a polite way to ask for the appreciation of the renminbi, which has, in effect, been pegged against the dollar for more than a year.

He said the fact the call for renminbi appreciation was gaining support within Asia was an important development. “Multilateral co-operation within Asia has been a major focus in Chinese foreign policy in recent times,” said Mr Nielsen. “These calls will be noticed in China.”

The remarks came just a day after a hint from China that it could let the renminbi appreciate in the coming months. Speculation that the People's Bank of China might allow the renminbi to rise heightened on Wednesday after the central bank dropped a phrase promising to keep the currency stable in its third-quarter monetary policy report and said it would consider major currencies, not just the dollar, in guiding the exchange rate.

One-year renminbi appreciation against the dollar implied by the futures market rose to 3.67 per cent, compared with a 3.32 per cent rise forecast at Wednesday's close.

Meanwhile, the dollar pulled back from a 15-month low on a trade-weighted basis as its recent sell-off ran out of steam.