The safe-haven yen held firm and riskier Asian currencies softened a little on Wednesday, as currency investors awaited the signing of the U.S.-China trade deal with trepidation.
The formal agreement is aimed at drawing a line underneath 18 months of tit-for-tat tariff hikes that have hurt global growth.
But hopes that it may herald warmer relations between the world’s top two economies were dented late Tuesday when U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that current tariffs on Chinese goods would stay, pending further talks.
That toppled China’s trade-sensitive yuan from a six-month peak and lifted the yen from a seven-month trough. But moves in morning trade were slight as markets wait to see the deal inked.
The yuan is the currency most sensitive to Sino-U.S. trade relations, and it retreated 0.2% to 6.8990 in offshore trade.
The yen was nearly 0.1% firmer at 109.91. The euro was steady at $1.1129 and the Swiss franc held on to overnight gains to sit at 0.9672 per dollar.
Source : Reuters