The central parity rate of the Chinese currency, the renminbi or yuan, depreciated to its weakest point in nearly five years, new data showed on Thursday.

The yuan's central parity rate lost 332 basis points to 6.5646 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, the lowest level since March 18, 2011, data from the China Foreign Exchange Trading System (CFETS) showed.

As of the end of 2015, the CFETS exchange rate composite index, which measures the yuan's strength relative to a basket of 13 foreign currencies, stood at 100.94, up 0.94 percent from the end of previous year.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.