SHANGHAI, July 23 -- GAINS in the Chinese yuan will probably continue this week after the central bank raised interest rates to curb inflation and prevent the sizzling economy from overheating.

But analysts said the pace of appreciation may not pick up rapidly as the widely forecast tightening move had already pushed up the yuan to new highs in the past few weeks.

The currency closed at 7.5710 against the United States dollar on Friday, almost unchanged from 7.5705 a week earlier. The central bank set the central parity, an indicator of market views on the yuan's movements, at 7.5712 on Friday. The yuan has appreciated 8.6 percent since the link to the greenback was scrapped in 2005.

Friday's interest-rate rise was the fifth since April last year.