China's central bank on Friday set the daily yuan reference rate at 6.1620 against the US dollar, marking the first time that the daily fixing has broken through 6.17.

The 19-year record high came as Chinese president Xi Jinping was set to meet his US counterpart Barack Obama in California on the same day.

The People's Bank of China raised the yuan's fixing by 0.19 percent compared with the previous trading day, the biggest increase since May 2.

The yuan is allowed to trade within 1 percent of the daily fixing in either direction.

The currency has appreciated 1.6 percent since the start of the year, Asia's best performance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.