There is no basis for a major appreciation in the yuan exchange rate, the State Information Center, a government think tank, said on Monday.

The center's economic forecasting division said in a report carried in the official China Securities Journal that China should strictly prevent speculative "hot money" from pushing up the yuan exchange rate and having a negative influence on the country's foreign trade.

The yuan has risen 0.7 percent since the People's Bank of China announced a depegging of the yuan from the dollar on June 19. The central bank has made it clear, however, that the yuan could move in either direction versus the dollar and would still be tightly controlled, with limited room for appreciation.