Dollar weakens as U.S., China sign trade deal

By Karen Brettell

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar pared losses but remained lower against the euro and the yen on Wednesday after the United States and China signed a deal to de-escalate their trade war.

The two countries announced an initial trade deal on Wednesday that will roll back some tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and services, defusing an 18-month conflict between the world's two largest economies.

But the deal will leave in place 25% tariffs on a vast, $250 billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by U.S. manufacturers.

There is "not much of a reaction at all to the trade deal signing," said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.

It may be a mild negative going forward for the greenback, however.

"The dollar has done relatively well out of the uncertainty element that this protracted trade war has caused," Osborne said. "So, at the margin we think it's a dollar negative."

The euro <EUR=> was last up 0.22% against the greenback at$1.1149. The dollar dropped 0.1% against the yen <JPY=> to 109.91, after the Japanese currency on Tuesday hit its weakest level since May at 110.20.

China's yuan on the offshore market was little changed against the dollar following the trade deal, with greenback at 6.903 yuan <CNH=>.

Sterling <GBP=> was flat versus the dollar, reversing earlier losses after data showed UK inflation rose at its slowest in three years, feeding expectations the Bank of England would cut rates in January. The pound was last at $1.3028.

"Directionally the market expected some weakness, but probably the magnitude surprised,” said Vassili Serebriakov, FX strategist at UBS in New York.

The Swiss franc <CHF=> rose to its strongest against the dollar in over a year, and its highest against the euro <EURCHF=> in almost three years, after the United States on Monday added Switzerland to its watchlist of currency manipulators. The dollar was last down 0.4% at 0.9641 franc <CHF=>.

Analysts said the inclusion could discourage the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from intervening to try to limit further appreciation of the franc, although the Swiss finance ministry said it would have no immediate consequences.

The Russian rouble weakened after the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's government.

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Currency bid prices at 4:54 PM (2154 GMT)

Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid

Previous Change

Session

Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1148 $1.1127 +0.19% -0.55% +1.1163 +1.1119

Dollar/Yen JPY= 109.9000 109.9700 -0.06% +0.96% +110.0100 +109.8000

Euro/Yen EURJPY= 122.54 122.39 +0.12% +0.48% +122.7100 +122.2100

Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9640 0.9672 -0.33% -0.39% +0.9680 +0.9631

Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.3038 1.3017 +0.16% -1.67% +1.3042 +1.2988

Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3042 1.3060 -0.14% +0.43% +1.3078 +1.3035

Australian/Doll AUD= 0.6906 0.6900 +0.09% -1.64% +0.6916 +0.6878

ar

Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0748 1.0765 -0.16% -0.96% +1.0776 +1.0743

Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8551 0.8549 +0.02% +1.15% +0.8578 +0.8538

NZ NZD= 0.6617 0.6613 +0.06% -1.77% +0.6620 +0.6585

Dollar/Dollar

Dollar/Norway NOK= 8.8614 8.8714 -0.11% +0.95% +8.8959 +8.8512

Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.8803 9.8720 +0.08% +0.43% +9.9010 +9.8733

Dollar/Sweden SEK= 9.4635 9.4632 +0.20% +1.24% +9.4860 +9.4421

Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.5516 10.5308 +0.20% +0.79% +10.5648 +10.5310

(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Tom Brown)