The dollar climbed on Friday against a basket of currencies as global equity prices rebounded from a six-day rout and robust Chinese export figures soothed some worries about the world's second-biggest economy and its trade war with Washington. Euro and sterling snapped their three-day winning streak in advance of next week's European Union summit where Britain and the economic bloc may strike a Brexit deal.
China's exports jumped 14.5 percent in September from a year earlier, the biggest year-over-year increase in seven months and marking a record trade surplus with the United States. This suggested the tariffs US President Donald Trump has slapped on Beijing have yet to bite. "The market breathed a sigh of relief with the Chinese trade numbers despite the tit-for-tat trade war with the US," said Dean Popplewell, vice president of market analysis at Oanda in Toronto. "People were happy to put on some risk."
A weaker yuan likely mitigated the sting from US duties on $250 billion worth of Chinese-made goods, analysts said. At 10:43 a.m. (1443 GMT), an index that tracks the dollar versus six major currencies was up 0.29 percent at 95.291.
The euro and pound retreated from two-week and three-week peaks, respectively, versus the greenback reached following comments from EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Wednesday who suggested an agreement for Britain to leave the EU could be reached next week.
The single currency was down 0.35 percent at $1.1553, while sterling was 0.52 percent lower at $1.3166. The Chinese yuan fell 0.5 percent to 6.9123 per dollar in offshore trading, as the latest Chinese export figures stoked concerns they would ratchet up trade tension between China and the United States.
Comments
Comments are closed.