The dollar struggled on Wednesday, having been nudged off two-week highs as fading optimism over any near-term Sino-U.S. trade deal revived safe-haven demand and drove U.S. yields down.

U.S. bond yields also tracked a decline in their British counterparts to 2-1/2-year lows on dovish-sounding comments from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, which in turn weighed on the pound.

The dollar index .DXY against a basket of six major currencies stood at 96.742 after pulling back from 96.875 scaled on Tuesday, its highest since June 20.

The pound was steady at $1.2597 GBP=D4 after shedding 0.35% the previous day, when it touched a two-week trough of $1.2584.

BoE’s Carney said on Tuesday that a global trade war and a no-deal Brexit were growing risks to Britain's economy which might need more help to cope with a downturn, prompting investors to increase their bets on central bank easing.

Source : Reuters