- Strong midpoint fixing for China's yuan calms investors' nerves
- U.S. Commerce's Ross sees more trade pressure on China
- Major central bankers offer no new policy clues in Portugal
(Updates with late U.S. market action, adds quote)
The dollar was steady on Wednesday, hovering near an 11-month peak against a basket of major currencies as China's signal of tolerance of a stronger yuan offset anxiety about the global trade conflict.
The greenback, as well as the yen and Swiss franc, remained well supported as traders braced for another possible round of U.S. tariffs against China.
"We are now entering into concerning territory," said Alessio de Longis, portfolio manager for OppenheimerFunds' global multi-asset group in New York. "This is happening when global growth is already slowing outside the U.S."
Before Wednesday's market open, the People's Bank of China cut the yuan's midpoint rate CNY=PBOC to 6.4586 per dollar, the weakest since Jan. 12 and much stronger than market models had suggested.
Beijing's move is seen as a bid to stabilize investor sentiment and stem the yuan from sagging further.
On Tuesday, the Chinese currency fell to a five-month low of 6.4948 yuan in the offshore market CNH=D3 following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese imports.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the White House will likely keep up pressure on Beijing in an attempt to reach a deal on greater American access to Chinese markets and narrow its trade surplus with the United States.
In this climate of rising trade tensions, heads of major central banks spoke of this risk in their economic outlook at a conference in Sintra, Portugal.
U.S. Federal Reserve President Jerome Powell said "in principle changes in trade policy could cause us to have to question the outlook."
Still Powell and his peers at the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan, Mario Draghi and Haruhiko Kuroda, did not suggest they altered their policy stance even as trade tensions have intensified.
In U.S. afternoon trading, an index that tracks the dollar against the euro, yen, sterling and three other currencies .DXY was little changed at 95.090 after touching an 11-month peak of 95.299 earlier on Wednesday.
The euro EUR= was marginally lower at $1.1579 and climbed 0.3 percent at 127.81 yen EURJPY= . The greenback rose 0.3 percent against the Japanese currency JPY= at 110.35 yen. Many emerging currencies steadied after Tuesday's losses due to trade fears. The Mexican peso MXN=D2 gained 0.7 percent on the day, while the South African rand ZAR=D3 rose 0.9 percent.
The Australian dollar, seen as a proxy for market sentiment toward China, fell to a 13-month low of $0.73475 AUD=D4 on Tuesday before bouncing back a bit to $0.73715.
The Swiss franc CHF= dipped 0.2 percent to 0.9961 per dollar, erasing the prior day's gains.
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 2:42PM (1842 GMT)Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1580 $1.1588 -0.07% -3.47% +1.1600 +1.1538 Dollar/Yen JPY= 110.3600 110.0400 +0.29% -2.05% +110.3700 +109.8700 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 127.81 127.53 +0.22% -5.45% +127.8500 +127.1300 Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9956 0.9939 +0.17% +2.19% +0.9982 +0.9938 Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.3176 1.3178 -0.02% -2.49% +1.3215 +1.3149 Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3313 1.3282 +0.23% +5.85% +1.3314 +1.3268 Australian/Doll AUD= 0.7371 0.7381 -0.14% -5.51% +0.7408 +0.7370 arEuro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.1532 1.1519 +0.11% -1.34% +1.1552 +1.1511 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8788 0.8795 -0.08% -1.07% +0.8801 +0.8769 NZ Dollar/Dolar NZD= 0.6865 0.6899 -0.49% -3.12% +0.6916 +0.6865 Dollar/Norway NOK= 8.1664 8.1820 -0.19% -0.49% +8.2065 +8.1486 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.4558 9.4851 -0.31% -3.99% +9.4936 +9.4459 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.8752 8.8944 -0.26% +8.21% +8.9307 +8.8602 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.2823 10.3090 -0.26% +4.50% +10.3172 +10.2690 <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates in 2018 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
