Optimism Over Trade Talks Helps Yuan & Australian Dollar – 13 May, 2019

President Trump’s comments on his predicted outcome of the U.S.-China trade deal helped the offshore yuan and the Australian dollar stabilize. Last week, China retaliated the proposed $200 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports into the U.S. by saying they too would be imposing higher tariffs on $60 billion U.S. goods. President Trump tweeted today that he is optimistic that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a successful meeting next month at the G20 summit. The offshore yuan rose to 6.8948 per dollar, gaining roughly 1/4 of a percent, having fallen to the biggest daily loss since July 2018 the session before. The Australian dollar was steady at $0.6952, having hit its lowest since January earlier in the day. The euro gained 0.15% to $1.1238, while sterling traded at $1.2968. Against a basket of six currencies, the dollar index was at 97.320. The dollar gained against the yen to 109.60.