Yuan Gains, U.S. Dollar Slips on Trade Deal Prospects

Monday,   18-Feb-2019   12:01 PM (IST)

The Chinese yuan gained against the U.S. dollar while the greenback traded slightly lower on Monday in Asia, as the prospects of a Sino-U.S. trade deal improved investors’ appetite for riskier assets. U.S.-China trade talks will continue in Washington this week after the two sides wrapped up the last discussions in Beijing last week. Both the U.S. and China reported progress in the latest trade negotiations, although U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the talks were “very complicated". The President added that he might extend the March 1 deadline and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising. The USD/CNY pair last traded at 6.7547 by 11:52 PM ET (04:52 GMT), down 0.2%. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is due to publish the minutes of its January meeting on Wednesday where it has kept rates on hold and surprised markets by shifting to a more dovish stance on future rate hikes, citing subdued inflation and rising risks to global economic growth. A number of Fed officials, including New York Fed President John Williams, St. Louis Fed head James Bullard and Fed Governors Randal Quarles and Richard Clarida are set to speak at the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum later this week. The U.S. dollar index slipped 0.1% to 96.610. The greenback slid lower on Friday after San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly suggested the central bank may hold off on raising interest rates in 2019. The U.S. currency posted the second week of losses and is down 1.7% year to date. Elsewhere, the AUD/USD pair rose 0.2% to 0.7151. The Reserve Bank of Australia is to publish the minutes of its latest policy-setting meeting on Tuesday.