Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
The dollar fell against the yen during the Asian trade session. However, the greenback gained against the offshore Chinese yuan. Traders are still worried about the currency policy of China that has been added into the mix of the ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economic giants, China and the United States.
The yuan continues to weaken in the offshore USD/CHF exchange rate as the dollar trades above $7. The People’s Bank of China set its official midpoint, today at $6.996, which is not much better than the last close.
The U.S. currency also fell against the Japanese yen. The benchmark USD/JPY foreign exchange rate was down 0.3 percent to trade at 106.13 yen. Earlier in the session, the USD rose to 107.07 yen then back to 105.51 yen in a very volatile session.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency in a basket against six other currencies including the pound and euro, was trading around the flat line near 97.474.
Traders Watch the Trade War with Concern and Safe Havens Gain against the Dollar
China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, are locked in a bitter and escalating trade war. The trade war resumed, with a fervor, last week after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced new tariffs against Chinese imports.
China then responded by ending all American agricultural imports and they allowed their currency to weaken past a key and all-important level at $7. This then prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to label China as a currency manipulator.
This morning, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand stunned the financial markets when they announced an aggressive 50 basis point rate cut that brought their overnight cash rate (OCR) down from 1.5 percent to one percent with the possibility of another 25 basis point rate cut before the end of the year. The RBNZ is very concerned with global trade tensions and economic growth.
