· The yuan gained and the safe-haven yen slid against the dollar on Monday as appetite for risk-sensitive currencies improved after the United States and China agreed to restart their troubled trade talks.
The offshore Chinese yuan gained 0.8% to 6.816 per dollar, its highest levels since May 9, just days after Trump threatened additional tariffs on China.
The dollar rose 0.4% to 108.350 yen, extending its recovery from near a six-month low of 106.78 set last Tuesday.
The euro was steady at $1.1368 and the Australian dollar was also flat at $0.7027.
Supported by the greenback’s rally against the yen, the dollar index against a basket of six major currencies added 0.15% to 96.280.
· After meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Japan on Saturday on the sidelines of Group of 20 summit, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hold back on tariffs and that China will buy more farm products.
Trump also said the U.S. Commerce Department would study over the next few days whether to take Huawei off the list of firms banned from buying components and technology from U.S. companies without government approval.
· President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed not to impose new levies on U.S. and Chinese goods after meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan on Saturday.
Trump said the meeting went as well as it could have, noting: “We are right back on track.” Chinese state-run news outlet Xinhua said the two leaders agreed to “to restart trade consultations between their countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”
Trump added the U.S. will ease restrictions on American companies from selling products to Huawei, a giant telecommunications company from China. The U.S. barred companies from selling to Huawei in May, citing national security concerns. The U.S. president also said China would “buy farm product.”
Investors anxiously awaited the meeting between Trump and Xi as they looked for clues on whether the world’s largest economies would resume trade negotiations or if the conflict would be prolonged.
· Comments from Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, added to the uncertainty around U.S.-China trade relations.
Kudlow told Fox News on Sunday that Trump was not granting Huawei “general amnesty. ” He also said there is no timetable for when a deal might be finalized.
· U.S. President Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea on Sunday when he met its leader, Kim Jong Un, in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks.
The two men shook hands warmly and expressed hopes for peace when they met for the third time in just over a year on the old Cold War frontier that for decades has symbolized the hostility between their countries, which are technically still at war.
· A deal hatched among several key European leaders to award a former Dutch foreign minister the post of EU chief executive broke down at an emergency summit on Sunday after eastern European and center-right European leaders rejected the plan.
Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans had appeared the favorite to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission after the leaders of Germany, France and Spain agreed to back him while in Japan last week.
But they ran into unexpectedly tough opposition on Sunday from Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The summit dinner began three hours late after bilateral meetings to find a solution dragged on.
· Oil prices fell just before the settlement on Friday after the remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal vowed to help normalize trade with the Middle Eastern nation.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled down 96 cents, or 1.6%, at $58.47 a barrel after trading in a narrow range for most of the session.
European parties to the Iran nuclear deal have been trying to rescue the accord and are trying to keep Iran from violating the deal.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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