The Australian and New Zealand dollars clung to gains on Wednesday ahead of the resumption of trade in Chinese markets, where eyes are on Beijing's fixing of the yuan midpoint rate following the outbreak of Donald Trump's trade war. The dollar was on the back foot in the early Asian session, giving some respite to heavily battered currencies like the euro, which bounced back above the $1.02 level and last bought $1.0374. Volatility in currency markets eased a little on Wednesday after a turbulent start of the week following Trump's imposition of steep tariffs on top U.S. trading partners,...
Gold rose to a record high, after advancing by almost 1% in the previous session, as the opening salvos of the US-China trade war stoked haven demand. Bullion reached an all-time peak of $2,849.05 an ounce on Wednesday. That came after President Donald Trump hit Chinese imports with a 10% tariff the day before, prompting a swift but more targeted retaliation from Beijing. The response from China was relatively muted compared to Trump's first term, when Beijing hit back with tariffs that were almost on par with the US, but there's still plenty of trepidation about the...
Oil prices were little changed on Wednesday after volatile trading in the previous session as investors shrugged off the impact of China's tariffs on U.S. energy imports though President Donald Trump's renewed push to eliminate Iranian crude exports provided some support. Brent crude futures were down 18 cents, or 0.24%, at $76.02 a barrel by 0210 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 9 cents, or 0.12%, to $72.61. Oil on Tuesday traded in a wide range, with WTI falling at one point by 3%, its lowest since Dec. 31, after China announced tariffs on U.S. imports of oil, liquefied...