  A new parametrization PC-PK1 for the nuclear covariant energy density
functional with nonlinear point-coupling interaction is proposed by fitting to
observables for 60 selected spherical nuclei, including the binding energies,
charge radii and empirical pairing gaps. The success of PC-PK1 is illustrated
in its description for infinite nuclear matter and finite nuclei including the
ground-state and low-lying excited states. Particularly, PC-PK1 improves the
description for isospin dependence of binding energy along either the isotopic
or the isotonic chains, which makes it more reliable for application in exotic
nuclei. The predictive power of PC-PK1 is also illustrated for the nuclear
low-lying excitation states in a five-dimensional collective Hamiltonian in
which the parameters are determined by constrained calculations for triaxial
shapes.
